Between the Silences
by Admiral Godunov
Summary: He was the weakling, the dork, the one everyone picked on. He was nasal and annoying and... kind of cute. And he had a nice laugh... [larxene.demyx][what begins in silence must also end. complete.]
1. Chapter 1

Silence.

Silence at the Castle That Never Was usually meant a fight was imminent between the members of Organization XIII, especially considering this was one of the few bye weeks they'd had in a while.

Tensions were high as they had all received a thorough chewing-out by Xemnas, something about how their heart collection ratio wasn't up to par with how he envisioned it and by the end of their vacation they'd all have to pull double-duty.

Naturally, this left everyone pissed at something, and without a chance to turn on the superior, they went for each others' throats. Well, some did. Roxas and Axel usually made things worse by playing troublemakers the entire time, Larxene picked fights with everyone in sight, and Saix stalked the halls irritably. One might say the smarter members were the ones that stayed in their rooms, like Demyx and Luxord.

An explosion rocked the castle, then around the corner to the members' rooms walked a very specific female Nobody. She cast an evil smirk over her shoulder before stalking right into Marluxia's room without even bothering to announce her presence outside. She walked slowly, eyes closed, working the knots from shoulder which was freshly starting to cramp up from her daily physical abuse on the newest member. She'd managed to get to him this day before Axel had even managed to drag himself out of his room, meaning the kid had gotten a good once-over. Not that he hadn't fought back, another reason her shoulder was sore.

A soft guitar melody drifted into her ears and she sighed. Always a sucker for soft music, Marluxia was, said something about how the plants liked it too. How things like plants could appreciate music was beyond Larxene's comprehension, but she never really put too much thought into it. Her eyes still closed- she knew his room quite well- she continued advancing, expecting to come into contact with one of his comfortable albeit pink chairs.

The contact came alright, about five paces later, but what she hit wasn't the side or back of a chair, what she hit fell over with a loud, metallic clang and took her with it.

"Are you alright?"

A stupid question... and not Marluxia's voice.

Electric blue eyes shot open and instantly landed on sea green ones set beneath a very specific mohawk... or mullet... or whatever the hell he called his hair style- she'd never asked. She was about to burst out with what the _hell _Demyx was doing in Marluxia's room, until she noticed the layout. The whole room was so very dark with hints of blue- not Marluxia's color. There were large windows at the far end, though not nearly the green-house sized ones, with the windows in the center being a door to a balcony- very unlike Marluxia's setup. The thing she had tripped over, and was now laying on while it dug into her stomach wasn't even vaguely anything floral, in fact it was large and a rich gold color. No, it was brass. She'd tripped over a trombone.

Besides the fact the room held the sweet trace of fresh water scent rather than the overbearing stench of flowers.

Finally her eyes fell back on his and narrowed dangerously. He had half arisen from his seat, the guitar held tightly in his hands but now he was regarding her like some sort of strange, wild animal, unsure if he should approach or not. With a small noise she pulled herself to her feet, kicking the brass instrument with a thunk before crossing her arms over her chest and daring the man to say _anything _about what she'd just done.

Demyx slowly backed down rather than complain about her kicking his instrument, sitting back on the low stool he'd been earlier while resting the guitar in his lap. "What brings you here?"

Larxene's eyes narrowed even farther, the light blue glinting out from behind thick lashes. She could tell him the truth, that she'd made a mistake and had wandered into the wrong room, but her pride would not allow it. "Why shouldn't I be here?" She mentally winced at her own childish comeback. Demyx just raised his eyebrows.

"I... I really couldn't tell you. It's not as if I'm doing anything incriminating," he laughed and the sound was so pleasant to Larxene's ears that she forced herself to deny liking it. No, she couldn't think like that. His voice was whiny and nasal, not pleasing.

"Well... what _are _you doing?" she asked, impatiently tapping her foot. Demyx looked at the guitar, then back up at her.

"Well..." he began. "Just trying to see if it's the music, the sitar, or me that allows me to control water."

Larxene scoffed. "Stupid. Why do you need to know?"

"Just curious I guess. I did figure out that if it is indeed the music that controls it, then I need something that can chord..."

Larxene raised an eyebrow, relaxing her stance slightly. Demyx paused for a moment, regarding her while his mind thought up his explanation.

"Uh... like this," he strummed a chord on the guitar. "See how there's more than one note in there that synchs up? You can only do it with string and some percussion instruments, all the rest are limited to one note at a time. I figured that it's the chord that has something to do with helping me get the water to come to me. I can't just spawn it out of nothing like the rest of you can for some reason."

Larxene snickered. "That's because water fails as an element. Earth can contain it, lightning zaps it, plants suck it up and use it to their advantage, wind freezes it immobile into ice. It's a life-giving element, not a life taking one."

Demyx blinked, then shook his head. "What about mud slides? Earth can only contain water for so long before the water breaks it down."

"I have you beat on the rest of them..." Larxene said proudly, glaring at him.

Demyx shook his head. Arguing was pointless, especially against her. She insisted on winning and usually wore people down beyond the point of them wanting to try anymore.

Larxene wanted to leave him on that note, but found herself compelled to ask one more question. It was the question that would change her non-existence as she knew it... she just didn't realize it yet. "So... how far you gotten? Like... do you know how many other instruments will help?"

Demyx looked up at her suddenly like he'd expected her to leave, too. She smiled smugly, knowing she'd caught him off guard. "Oh uh... well, I haven't tried it with a regular guitar yet..." Demyx was lying, and with a little luck, she wouldn't be able to tell. "I had tried it out on the piano... and it worked alright."

"Well, start playing, I wanna see if this theory of yours actually works," Larxene challenged, puffing up her chest a little bit so she could look down her nose at him.

Demyx just smiled slightly and shrugged. "If you want me to..." He looked down at the guitar and situated his hands on it, muttering under his breath as he did so. "And don't mind getting a little wet..."

The music began simply, a few chords to coax the moisture up through the ground and when finally enough had gathered Demyx began strumming intently on the guitar. They both watched as the water formed pillars shooting straight up, disintegrating before falling back down to the ground only to be sucked back up into another pillar. Larxene had to admit, if nothing else it made for an impressive show. She watched as the music became even more strenuous, the water began swirling around before launching itself into the air in the shape of a vortex. Demyx's expression contorted somewhat, and Larxene barely had the chance to wonder why when a sour chord literally ripped the vortex apart and sprayed the entire room with a violent torrent of water.

Silence pervaded once more, a calm before a storm. Finally, in a voice shaking with rage, Larxene spoke. "What the hell happened?"

"Ah, I'm sorry. It seems the power going through the strings backlashed and broke one," Demyx laughed nervously, holding up the guitar with his right hand to reveal one of the middle strings was split. His left hand he kept cradled against his side as though it had sustained an injury.

Larxene kept up a constant glare on him, wondering how long she should take before zapping his sorry ass. And then it hit her, not only was _she_ soaking wet, the whole room was as well. If she tried to summon lightning now... she'd hurt herself. The thought made her angrier, and she turned to storm out of the room.

"W-Wait Larxene! At least let me get you a towel!" Demyx called out, setting the guitar on his seat.

She stopped, then turned around angrily. There was another pause, before she finally fully faced him again and once more placed her arms over her chest. "Well? Are you just going to stand there staring like an idiot or are you going to get that damn towel?"

"Ah..." Demyx replied, caught off guard but he nodded and hurried quickly towards a side room that was probably his bathroom. He emerged a moment later with a dark aqua colored towel, carefully approaching the female Nobody, holding it out in front of him like an offering to a wild animal. Larxene caught on and her scowl deepened as her hand lashed out to grab the towel offered, but as she did so, her other hand reached out and grabbed his left one, pulling it up to eye level to inspect. Just as she'd thought, there was a nice cut through the glove revealing the crimson line of an injury.

Larxene scoffed, dropped his hand, then promptly went to work drying her hair off. Demyx blinked, then lifted the rejected hand up to look at the laceration himself, not noticing anything special about it except it really kind of hurt. However, wondering over his hand caused him to miss something else that was indeed thought provoking.

The blonde woman had stopped drying her head, and instead was noting the towel. It was incredibly soft, easily putting any fabric Marluxia owned to shame, and beyond that it just plain smelled _good_. Like fresh rain, or a creek from a short distance away. It was a subtle, clean smell that brought a dangerous thought forth in the Nymph's mind: _I wonder if he smells like this..._

She shook her head and any thoughts of a friendly nature towards Demyx from her mind before pulling the towel off her head and finishing with it. She didn't even notice he was making it a point not to watch her, instead having turned around to look at the low moon hanging in the sky. It wasn't raining today, which was a blessing in and of itself, it allowed them to see the precious fruit of all their work... the thing they called Kingdom Hearts... the place they would be able to go to soon enough and reclaim their hearts and humanity. As she finished with the towel, she looked up for just long enough to see his figure silhouetted against the pale moon, eliciting another thought from her mind that could lead nowhere but to trouble. She snarled at herself for being so stupid, before throwing the towel at his head, turning on her heel and walking out.

Demyx swiftly turned around after nearly jumping out of his skin at the sudden presence of the towel on his head, only to see a yellow and black blur exiting his room. He raised an eyebrow and rubbed the back of his head, wondering about the events that had occurred over the last several minutes.

-

Larxene emerged out the other side of the door only to chide herself for being stupid enough to wander into Demyx's room accidentally. She growled several choice words under her breath before barging into the room labeled 'XI'. Immediately the pungent smell of the flora invaded her senses, causing her to crinkle her nose slightly. It had never really bothered her before, but today it was fairly bad. Perhaps Marluxia was pruning the flowers today... or... no. She wouldn't think of the probable cause.

Picking her way carefully forward and around the pots in the room, she finally did what she had intended the entire day, flopped down on one of Marluxia's soft, pink chairs.

"You're late today..." he muttered from his position on a small foot ladder, stretched out to reach the leaves on an awkwardly teal colored tree.

"Yeah, sorry. I had to take care of the idiot brigade," Larxene said, waving her hand dismissively.

"Oh?" Marluxia turned around and looked at her. "I could've sworn I heard the last explosion around thirty minutes ago."

"Yeah..." Larxene said quickly, trying to think up a lie. "I finally got my hands on that little bastard Roxas without Axel being there to cover his ass. I throttled him for a while just to get him back for that last time he walked in here without knocking. Still have to get the snarky bastard, though." Ok, it wasn't entirely the truth, but it was close enough it should throw him off.

Marluxia laughed, and the sound wasn't nearly as pleasant as what she'd heard from Demyx earlier. That thought alone elicited another growl from her throat. Not to say Marluxia's voice was unpleasant, it was deep and charismatic but his laugh was abrasive, arrogant, laughing _at _rather than _with,_ and while Larxene could admit it wasn't bad, she found herself enjoying Demyx's soft, almost gentle chuckle more. Against her will of course.

She snarled again for the countless number that day. That boy was a weakling and a dork and would be until the end of his pitiful non-existence.

"Something the matter?" Marluxia asked, and Larxene started slightly realizing he was leaning against the backrest and looming very closely over her.

"Nothing... nothing. Just a rough day with the Superior's announcement and all..." She lied, sighing and lightly wrapping her fingers around the ties of his coat.

"Shall we forget for a little while then...?" Marluxia purred, nuzzling his face into her hair.

"Yeah... please," she replied, tilting her head up to press her lips into his, squeezing her eyes shut and for a moment Marluxia wasn't the one she was kissing.

And that terrified her more than anything else had that day.

-

Standard disclaimers apply. Please R&R, it makes me happy.


	2. Chapter 2

Marluxia and Larxene were fucking. Unfortunately, there was no other, more eloquent way of putting it. 'Making love' and 'in a relationship' both required hearts, and saying they were sleeping with each other or any other similar set of words just didn't seem enough to describe their relationship. It was only painfully obvious to everyone in the Organization, from Saix who refused to concern himself with any personal matters between the members to the naive Roxas, to Demyx who played at naivete simply because he didn't _want _to know what was happening between his comrades-in-arms.

One of the people who had been tracking that relationship from the start was Axel. He'd been there from the first morning, noticing the different way they'd acted around each other. How Marluxia seemed so cocksure and superior, while Larxene seemed to tamp her defiant nature down when she was near him. It hadn't taken the other members long to pick up on it either, no matter how Larxene would deny she was in any way involved with Marluxia.

Eventually, they moved on from the subject and no one pointed out what was going on anymore because their reactions with each other were simply a fact of life, an everyday occurrence that didn't seem to be changing any time soon.

Axel was surprised to note the next morning after he'd found out his best friend had been completely reamed by the sadist that there seemed to be some sort of awkward wall between numbers eleven and twelve that hadn't been there before. He was going to confront her about harming his friend, but now that he observed their awkward silence and distance, he decided he had better things to do than talk to Larxene about her temper, even if he was half the cause for it.

"What's going on, Axel?" Luxord asked, stepping closer to the shorter man so their tones could be lowered. Luxord approached Axel for knowledge about the Organization simply because the red haired man was a people watcher, and from his observations he could decipher goings-on within the Organization better even than the reclusive Superior. Luxord would be similarly be a devout people-watcher, but he was notoriously busy for reasons no one but he, Saix and Xemnas ever knew.

Axel nodded his head to the blond female and pink haired male Nobodies. "Is something different that you can see?"

Luxord observed for just a moment, his piercing blue eyes watching every movement as carefully as he would an opponent in poker to call a bluff. "She's not proverbially clinging to his leg like a lovesick puppy?"

Axel had to laugh at that. "Right. I wonder why."

"Perhaps they had a falling out of some sort...?" Luxord suggested, still studying the two of them carefully.

"I don't know..." Axel replied. "Marluxia doesn't seem different."

"He's as immovable as an old tree, so to speak. Only person with more willpower than he would be Lexaeus and Vexen," Luxord stated simply.

"Still... I can't help getting the feeling that the _something_ is wrong with her..." Axel said, crossing his arms.

Luxord grunted thoughtfully to the affirmative. "I don't know. Why would she be acting so different all of a sudden? Last I checked there was nothing wrong between them..."

"Same here..." Axel furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully, and a brief quiet descended on the two men.

Across the room, just beyond where Lexaeus and Zexion were talking, the two Nobodies in question were chatting with each other, seemingly normally. Upon closer inspection, however, Larxene's stance seemed rigid... perhaps not nervous, but on edge. She turned around for some reason to point out of one of the windows towards the moon. Marluxia stepped closer to her, placing his hands on her shoulders and whispering something in her ear that, if his smile was any indication, was devious.

Larxene shrugged his hands off and stepped away from him in mid-sentence, only to stop herself a second later, freezing up for some reason. She turned around and looked at Marluxia, instantly putting on a defensive air.

Axel and Luxord blinked comically in unison before exchanging a glance.

"Well _that _was unusual," Axel muttered.

"Indeed," Luxord nodded. Both Nobodies kept their eyes fixed upon the two others across the room.

"By the way, have you seen Demyx today?" Axel asked, moving his head slightly towards Luxord without peeling his eyes off of the events happening across the room.

"No..." Luxord said softly, stroking his beard with his thumb and forefinger. "He wasn't at breakfast, either. Even if he plans on keeping himself in his room all day, he usually comes down to eat something."

"That's what I was thinking," Axel said.

"You're not saying _Demyx _has anything to do with what's going on _over there_, are you Axel?" Luxord scoffed.

Axel suddenly burst out into laughter as well. "No, no! Definitely not!" He chuckled again. "I was just making idle conversation while we observe the Lover's Quarrel."

Luxord shook his head, smiling. "Well, if anything new pops up, do tell me. I have some things to take care of."

"You always have stuff to 'take care of', Lux," Axel shook his head. "But I will alert you to anything else that happens today."

With that, Luxord quietly walked off towards his room, while Axel settled himself back against the wall to observe.

-

Demyx sighed, running his fingers once more over the keys on the piano, trying to figure out how to play it with his left hand wrapped up in a large, bulky bandage. He began the tune once more, gracefully flitting his fingertips over the keys, before the bandage caught on one of the black ones and ruined the melody. Demyx frowned at the injury for a moment, then sighed and leaned back slightly on the piano bench.

Deciding that he wasn't going to get anywhere very fast, he stood up quietly and walked out of his room with every intent of getting to the kitchen for some sort of sustenance. Naturally, as always happened in situations like this, Larxene had a similar idea and was in the kitchen as well. Also, to use the word naturally again, there was no one around. If there was a god of irony out there somewhere, Demyx was sure they had it in for him. Somewhere beyond the magical Fourth Wall, someone snickered.

Making a small noise so as not to get too close and then startle her, the water elementalist walked into the kitchen heavily. Larxene threw a look back over her shoulder, then quickly turned around as if nothing had happened. Carefully, he approached the awkwardly massive refrigerator, prying the door open slowly. Once again, he was acting as if she were some sort of wild beast that if he moved too fast, she'd attack him or something.

Apparently she noticed the same thing, whirling around and glaring him down. "Do I look like some freaking animal? Like I'll rip your throat out if you move too fast? _Relax_ you freaking moron, I'm not going to _hurt you _without a _good_ reason. Though how you're acting now is quickly approaching that _good reason_."

Demyx flinched and jerked backwards from the sudden pair of hands that had seized the front of his coat. "No really! I'm sorry, I was just thinking..." Better to appease than tempt her rage.

Silence.

This world was good at that.

Larxene let him go and looked him over. "Right." With that, she turned back to whatever it was she had been fiddling with previous. Demyx similarly leaned over to fetch something that looked like it had at one point been a chicken, but had been so picked over it was a pointy structure of bones, cartilage, and strips of random meat. He set it down on the counter under the cabinet with plates in it. Without looking at what he was doing, he reached up with his injured hand to grab a plate.

Once again irony decided to smite him, causing his hand to fail to get a firm on the plate. This naturally ended with him dropping it, having it bounce of his shoulder, and then smash on the ground with a noise loud enough to make Larxene jump and screech.

She turned around, trying to regain a normal breathing power, eyes glimmering with rage. "What the hell!"

"Ah... I dropped the plate, sorry," Demyx replied, holding his hands up and backing away slowly.

Larxene slapped her hand to her forehead. "Of course you dropped the plate. What special kind of stupid are you? Look at that hand! You wouldn't know how to properly dress an injury if it came up and bit you on your scrawny ass." She reached out quickly and grabbed his hand, unwrapping it with haste. "Can't you do _anything _right? If you were stuck out in the middle of nowhere with limited medical supplies, I swear Demyx, you'd use them all on a mosquito bite. You don't even need gauze for something like that, a large band-aid would've done even better. I swear... hold this." She handed him the end of the bandage, before picking a spot less than halfway down the length of it, summoning up a knife quickly and slicing through the material and throwing the excess in the trash. She yanked the fabric out of his hand before wiggling her hand in the 'give it over' motion. He complied, and she began re-wrapping it. "Men, I swear. Where would you be without me?" She finished, looking over his hand intently before shoving it back at him. Larxene turned around, grabbed whatever it was on the counter then walked past him, knocking shoulders on the way.

Demyx just stood there watching her leave, flexing his hand now that it wasn't layered down under fabric. After another moment he returned to his food, contemplating once more the strange new twists fate kept deciding it wanted to throw right in his path. Not that he could particularly say he minded those strange twists. He was almost... _almost_ tempted to help speed them along. Almost only because he wasn't entirely certain where those twists would lead him.

Finished with his food preparation, Demyx quietly left the kitchen and returned to his room. What he didn't expect was a visitor but seconds after he'd seated himself and prepared to gorge himself on what was left of the chicken. The familiar sound of a portal opening caused him to slow down, but who stepped out of the portal caused him to stop altogether, the strip of chicken he'd just been about to consume hanging unattractively from his mouth.

"Oh for the love of Nothing..." Larxene placed two fingers on her temple and her thumb on her jaw. "You're a disgrace, finish eating your food."

Demyx paused for a moment, slowly chewing on the hunk of torn chicken flesh, before finally fitting the entire piece in his mouth and finishing it off.

"Flattering," she drawled sarcastically. "Very elegant. Let me guess... a prince in your former life?"

Demyx laughed suddenly through his nose, shaking his head. He swallowed before replying. "Not even close."

"I think you missed the sarcasm there, Demmy-boy," she pointed out, tilting her head towards him.

"Maybe I was trying to start conversation?" He replied quietly, watching as her haughty expression fell and turned into something akin to surprise.

He'd caught her so off-guard she couldn't think of anything to say for a moment after that, finally deciding on a simple, "Humph."

Demyx smiled at her then, a somewhat lopsided look that told he'd _planned _that somehow. He wasn't supposed to be _able _to plan out anything that would catch her off guard, damn it!

With an angry scowl she flopped down sideways on the chair across from him, glaring daggers and other sharp, pointy objects at him. He just shrugged and continued eating despite the awkward silence between them, in a moment she seemed to have lost interest in trying to kill him through telepathy and went back to letting her eyes trail around the room.

"Hey Larxene... do you think there's a god of irony out there anywhere?" Demyx asked suddenly, shattering the fragile silence.

"Hn. I couldn't tell you. I don't believe there's a thing such as God with His capital g, or gods of other things with their little g's. If there were, they'd be pissed something awful that people like us can control their holy natural elements. But irony... irony is a force so vengeful and unpredictable it's almost its own sentient being..." she replied thoughtfully after a moment of contemplation. She looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason really... I just think that if there was such a thing as a god or goddess of irony... I think it would be a goddess, really... anyway, if there was such a thing as a goddess of irony I'd have to say she's recently fallen into my lap," Demyx sighed, leaning his head against his clean hand.

That was always a fault of his, Larxene had noted. Too easy to open up and talk about things with people. "Ah well, irony's more of a whore than Lady Luck. She'll be off your hands and sucking some other poor sap off before you know it. Unless of course she drags you with her."

Demyx laughed at that, though mentally he was wincing at her somewhat crude language. "Well, I don't know if we could call Lady Luck such a whore. She seems to be velcroed in Luxord's bed."

Larxene laughed and for once it wasn't haughty or superior like the normal, it might've been called a heartfelt laugh if she still had a heart. It elicited a similar feeling from Demyx that his own laughter had from Larxene, only he had no idea that was what had happened.

Once again silence fell between them, though this time it was nowhere near as uncomfortable as it had been before. Demyx seemed to forget he was eating anything, just taking his time staring at the small patch of shiny bed frame revealed from under the somewhat sloppily made bedding.

"If you're not going to eat that, hand it over. I wanted some of that chicken too, you know," Larxene stated suddenly, looking at the plate in the Nocturne's lap.

He blinked in surprise then looked at her, frowning. "I thought you already ate?"

"That? That was for Marluxia," she stated simply with a hint of what might have been distaste.

"There was enough food there for three people... don't tell me he took all of that down by himself," Demyx said, surprised.

"No... he barely eats any of it. Most of it he makes into mulch," she replied, wrinkling her nose and emanating disapproval.

"What a waste of good food... Well, dedicated gardener for you..." the water elementalist sighed, picking the plate off his lap and handing it to his female companion.

"Yeah... I don't think... I ever realized just how... _girly _he can be..." Larxene said, taking one of the strips of meat and beginning to tear it apart.

"The pink didn't tip you off?" Demyx chuckled. "Infatuation makes it hard to see flaws in people."

The air went eerily still, and Demyx could instantly feel number twelve tense up. He closed his eyes and chastised himself for thinking out loud again. It always managed to get him in trouble.

The only thing he could do now, was apologize. "Ah! S-sorry! Just thinking out loud..." he laughed nervously. "Just forget I said anything?"

She 'humphed' again and turned away from him.

Finally, he asked the question he'd been wanting to since she'd shown up. Hopefully this time she'd give a better answer. "So... uh... what brings you here?"

She sighed, placing the plate on the table before turning over sideways in the chair until she could fold her arms over one armrest and place her chin on it, while she let one leg hang over the other armrest and the other leg pulled up to her chest and resting on the inside of the same armrest. Overall Demyx couldn't tell if that position was comfortable or not. "Eh, Marluxia's being a haughty bastard. Made me stand there for twenty minutes while he spread that food around in his stupid mulch pile, then turned around, acted surprised to see I was still standing there, and then dismissed me like I was some sort of personal servant."

"Never thought he was _that _mean," Demyx replied, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"He's not. Well, he's not to anyone else... not that bad at least," Larxene stated, staring off into something beyond Demyx's head for a moment.

"Still, you could've gone to any number of places rather than my room. Why here?"

She sighed again, squeezing her eyes shut and gritting her teeth. She didn't want to admit it to him... but... "I don't know. The whole place is blue... it's... calming. That and it smells nice in here, not overwhelmingly floral or how it can really get to smelling like ozone in my room."

Demyx quirked an eyebrow at her response, accepting the explanation but forming dozens of new questions in his head.

"That and you're not all that annoying to hang out with... I guess..." she cast her gaze at the floor.

_That _really took the water elemental by surprise. Three days ago the whole Organization would've bet she'd rather drink her own weight in bleach than voluntarily spend time with him. He watched her for a long moment, trying to decipher what the heck had happened to her over the past couple days, but failed to see anything. The only difference between today and any other day was that she looked _tired_.

"By the way," Demyx said, holding up his left hand. "Thanks."

"Huh? Oh... oh come on. You were going to be a natural disaster if you'd kept going with that freaking gauntlet you had been wearing. I only did it to save the poor, unfortunate dining ware that would've met an untimely demise from your awkwardness," Larxene replied, moving one of her arms out from under her head and waving her hand dismissively. She replaced her arm and closed her eyes once more.

Demyx just smiled softly and quietly got up, walking silently past her and settling himself back down at the piano. He lightly flitted his fingers over the keys, bringing out soft sounds from the piano that he soon crafted into a rather impromptu melody.

-

It was some time later before Larxene woke up, not even exactly knowing when she'd fallen asleep. Something soft brushed against her cheek, and she turned slightly in the chair, only to find what had brushed up against her to be a feathery soft blue blanket. Sleepily, she gripped the edge of the blanket and nuzzled her face into it, enjoying its wonderful texture and the fact it smelled like everything else in the room, clean with a hint of rain.

She stayed like that for a few moments, not even caring if Axel were to walk in the room and see her like that only to tease her about it for months afterwards. Finally, she slowly sat up, wincing at several of her joints whom had decided didn't like her sleeping in such a position. Quietly she stretched out her sore, stiff body until she deemed it well enough to get up and walk again. As she did so she neatly folded the blanket and placed it back on the chair before silently walking towards the door to his room, and summoning up a portal. As soon as she did so, she heard the ambient sound of the piano stop, and threw a look over her shoulder. "Thanks. You didn't have to do that-"

"Yeah I did."

She shook her head. "You're sweet, Demyx." She turned back to the portal and shook her head, muttering a barely audible, "too sweet," before stepping into the swirling mass of purple and black and disappearing.

-

Like yeah. I'm keeping this going. Hopefully this won't stall out like the rest of my multi-chaptered stories. R+R if it pleases you. Reviews make me warm and fuzzy and keep me up late at night just so I can give you people these things. Yeah, it dropped an f-bomb. I refuse to change the rating, though, just for that one word. I promise the story won't do that again.


	3. Chapter 3

The end of their vacation was imminent- it was only meant to last seven days, and while Demyx would admit the next three days after the first couple weren't nearly as exciting, he didn't want to see it end.

Tensions in the Castle were at an all time high, earlier that day the Superior had once again called the lot of them together simply to yell at them for not collecting enough hearts, harassing the keybearer, or other such evility they were supposed to perform, so the whole Organization decided to gather together and beat each other up in 'friendly' competition to let off some steam.

Naturally, Demyx preferred to stay out of conflicts with anyone, refusing to let the Superior ruffle him in any way. He would do what he needed to do later, there was no use yelling at him when a simple please and thank you would suffice.

Marluxia, strangely enough, had also opted out of a nice chance to fight, but rather than staying and observing had retreated into his room.

Xigbar slowly tottered off of the platform, gingerly reaching around to pry loose a chunk of ice that had firmly imbedded itself in his rump. Vexen hadn't wanted to go down there, but with a crafty distraction from Zexion, Lexaeus had picked him up and fairly well thrown him down there. Now that the battle was over, Vexen had won through a careful 'firefight' between himself and Xigbar, rapidly hurling small chunks of ice at him like bullets, while simultaneously blocking himself from projectiles from Xigbar's gun. It had actually been a very close fight.

As one of the more... irritable members of the Organization, Larxene had jumped down next onto the makeshift arena before anyone else could get the chance before glaring up at the rest of the Organization, daring any of them to go down there and get their asses fried.

There was a murmur throughout the men, trying to decide who actually wanted to go down there and tempt her famous temper, when suddenly Demyx felt an arm sling itself around his shoulders and Axel's voice call down. "Hey, Larxy!" She twitched. "The Melodious Nocturne up here'll take you on!"

"What?" Demyx turned to look at Axel. "No I won't."

"Sure you will..." Roxas snickered from somewhere behind him. "You don't have any other choice..."

Demyx let out a cry of surprise as he, like Vexen before him, was unceremoniously tossed over the railing. Righting himself surprisingly easily in mid-air he landed hard on the ground below and groaned. "Aw man... not this again..."

He stood up and readied himself, the fights didn't start with a word or any other preparation, someone just started moving. Unfortunately, for the first few seconds neither of them moved and the men up above them started to get restless, whispering amongst themselves.

Finally, Larxene looked up at the collection of the rest of the members, and sighed. "I don't wanna fight him!"

"Aww why not?" Axel called back down. "Not in the mood for a one-sided beat down?"

"Not particularly, no. He's not even going to _try_."

"Oh come _on, _even if he did try it would still be too easy, so why not just take the opportunity to kick him around, then fight someone else more seriously?" Xigbar added, limping up to the guard railing.

Demyx clenched his jaw and his fists and locked eyes with the woman standing across from him. He blinked at what he saw there. She didn't want to fight him, and from the look she was giving him it was obviously for more reasons than she was willing to tell the rest of the Organization.

"Demyx..." the voice was calm and deep and everything the Superior hadn't been less than an hour ago. The entire Organization turned to look at him, wondering just how the heck he managed to appear like that. "Fight her, or you'll be chasing down Heartless for the rest of the week. Hold back and I'll make sure you do it through your next vacation as well." Someone in the crowd up above snickered.

The water elemental sighed and turned back to the center of the makeshift arena, to his opponent. He had to do it now, didn't he? He closed his eyes and let his carefully constructed mask fall away, slowly revealing the Nobody he had been trying to hide. A moment, two passed and finally his eyes snapped back open. They were as cold, unforgiving, and emotionless as the sea they were colored after.

Larxene flinched and took a step back, growling softly. "_This _is why I didn't want to fight him..."

A slow smile crept over his face, breaking into a wide grin even as a low, sinister chuckle escaped his throat. He steadied himself then threw his hand up into the air, summoning his weapon, Larxene following suit with her own.

She tightened her grip on the knives, focusing on his hands, waiting for them to strum out some note and summon up water. A tense silence followed, everyone waiting on who would be the first to move.

Finally, something happened, but the first moves were so fast, the entire Organization had to confirm with each other that they'd actually happened.

Demyx slammed his foot down, startling Larxene to dodge an attack that never came. As soon as he'd established which direction she was going to run, he sent an actual attack to intercept her. Unfortunately for him, her reaction was just a tad faster than that, and she stopped short and switched directions on a dime. Scowling, he sent another attack after her but this time she knew it was coming, jumped straight up in the air, and did one impressive back flip over the dying remnants of his first attack, during which time she chucked her entire handful of knives at him, accompanied by a thunder spell.

With a cry of surprise, the water elemental dove out of the way, the attack barely missing him, but the dispersion of the lightning catching him and stalling him as several hundred volts coursed through his body for a split second. Seizing the opportunity, Larxene did a rather impressive back-handed throw of the set of knives in her left hand, and Demyx barely had time to drop to the ground and cover his head, listening as the kunai whizzed by dangerously close.

As soon as he heard them pass, he was on his feet again, facing her.

Another standoff ensued, almost exactly the same as the last one the only difference being their positions had shifted to the counterclockwise by ninety degrees, and a little more distance had been put between them.

An impressed whistle sounded from the peanut gallery.

"You called it, Luxord," Xaldin stated, nodding his head down towards the battlefield. "They are almost evenly matched."

"Man..." Xigbar scratched the side of his head. "And here I was thinking the kid couldn't do anything right..."

"You've never had to be on a mission with him, have you?" Luxord asked, a smile tugging up the edges of his mouth. "That... _kid_... could very well be the one to save your arse if you are."

"Heh," Axel waved his hand. "I don't know about that, but he's tougher than he looks. That's why I volunteered him, I knew he could hold his own."

"I love it when people underestimate the underdog..." Luxord laughed. "It only leads to them emptying their pockets for me..."

"She's still got the elemental advantage here though, right?" Xigbar asked. "And the speed advantage."

"Speed, yes, elemental... I'm not so sure," Roxas said, tilting his head at the fight.

A confused look passed between several of the members.

"He means lightning is a double-edged sword as an element, keep watching and you'll find out why," Zexion finally said, breaking the silence.

Another short pause, and then the fighting resumed. The second round was much like the first round, both combatants playing the strategy of attack, flee, attack, flee again. It seemed like it would end up with neither of them coming out on top, when suddenly, Larxene was reminded of what excess amounts of water will do to a smooth surface.

With the screech of wet rubber failing to get a grip, the lightning elemental stumbled and Demyx took the opportunity to thoroughly soak her in frigid water.

With a yelp of surprise, partly from slipping, and partly from the sudden shock of cold moisture, Larxene managed to right herself again and glared at her opponent.

"Sorry," Demyx said. "Had to."

With a vicious snarl, the blond woman was up and charging him, keeping him busy with well-placed kunai throws. The only real place she could do any good amount of damage now would be in close quarters.

Of course, it wasn't as easy as it looked, her first punch managed to embed all but one of the knives she was holding in right hand in the back of his sitar, and popped her wrist painfully in the process. She took a step back, re-figuring her angle of attack, but as she did so, Demyx replaced his grip, grabbing the long instrument by the neck in his right hand before swinging the bulky object towards her. It was only through a rather impressive back-bend she managed to avoid being knocked out, and recovering quickly, actually used his own momentum against him by knocking into him and sending him towards the ground. With a yelp he was forced to release his hold on the sitar or end up going face first into it.

The blue instrument went sailing for the crowd of Nobodies, more particularly Axel. Unfortunately, the pyro didn't get his guard up in enough time to stop it. Fortunately, however, once it hit the threshold of the battle arena, it dissolved into water and rather than painfully whacking Axel with a large, solid object, it simply sprayed water in his face. Roxas turned and laughed at his best friend accordingly.

While that had happened, however, Larxene managed to pin Demyx down under her foot and was rather successfully and menacingly pointing a handful of kunai right into his face. Demyx, however, would not be deterred and while still grinning up at her, slowly moved his hands up to her ankles, lightly trailing over them with the backs of his knuckles. Her eye twitched slightly, and he could feel her toes curl slightly. But she was distracted just enough that she couldn't do anything when he suddenly seized her ankles and literally pulled her feet out from under her. A moment of wrestling later, and Demyx had her pinned.

"Whoa-ho! When did this turn sexual?" Xigbar said, the first to notice, and all of the ambient chatter suddenly ceased, even Roxas' laughing at the fuming Axel.

"I do hope he realizes Larxene doesn't do bottom..." Axel snickered in response, still wiping his face off with the back of his sleeve.

Silence again.

"Uh... why aren't either of them moving?" Roxas asked, eyebrows raised as he blinked.

"Ah, there we go. Kind of hard to do anything with your hands above your head," Xigbar replied a moment later, looking down at them through the sniper scope of his joined guns. "Can't tell anything else though."

Larxene growled, clenching her fists and trying to get any of her limbs free, but finding herself unable to. She glared at Demyx, who simply smiled lopsidedly in return.

"I hope you realize, water-boy..." she growled, tapping into her power. The air around them crackled. If she could do this right, she could avoid the electricity backlashing into her. And with Demyx's coat hiding most of her, she just might be able to do it without catching flak later. She just hoped she'd be able to salvage whatever relationship they had later. "Axel was right... I don't do bottom."

Suddenly, she arched her back, using his mistake of getting too close to her advantage, pressing as much of herself against him as possible, including her lips into his.

And then she ground her electrical power, right into him. The power was enough to literally launch him backwards from his position, and caused him to roll for several feet before finally coming to rest on his stomach.

No one moved for a long moment after that, the audience, or the two combatants. Silence ruled for a period of time, everyone waiting with bated breath to find the outcome of the battle.

Finally, Larxene sat up, clenching the side of her head and groaning in pain. "Remind me never to do that again..." she stated, loud enough for everyone to hear her.

"What did you _do, _exactly?" Axel asked.

"Uh... I ground..." she replied, but not without a little bit of humility.

"Reckless..." a voice muttered, as Demyx finally moved again, moving his head so he could look across the platform. "You shocked yourself, didn't you? You alright?"

"Yeah..." she replied, furrowing her eyebrows. She'd just fairly well electrocuted him and here he was inquiring about her health. "... You... okay?"

"Well, being subjected to several thousand volts of grounding electricity does tend to hurt a little bit..." he shrugged. "But I'm not fading, so I'll be fine." He smiled at her, and she could tell he was replacing his mask, piece by piece.

Larxene laughed then, she had to or the tension in the place would kill everyone. "Can we call this match yet? I'm sore... and tired... and just nearly killed myself with my own element."

Xemnas, standing up on a balcony above all the others simply nodded.

"Thanks..." she slowly regained her feet, steadying herself before walking forward slowly to the prone form on the ground ahead of her. "Can you stand up?"

Demyx laughed softly, and very slowly began to rise groaning in pain. Just as he was about to proclaim victory and limp his way back to his room, his brain felt like it had suddenly been attached to a rotor, and his knees gave way. However, rather than landing back on the ground with a painful thump, Larxene stepped forward and caught him, grunting under his weight, but rather than making a crack at how he needed to lose some weight, she whispered an apology into his ear.

"That's fine..." he replied. "Don't... worry... about it..." his brain decided then to do another violent twirl, and he found himself clinging to Larxene like she was some sort of life preserver. "Just gotta... make... the spinning stop."

"Take your time," She replied, holding him steady and ignoring the complaints of the muscles in her shoulders from the strain.

Finally after another long pause, punctuated by the few times his grip on the back of her coat suddenly tightened and a small noise escaped his throat, he seemed to regain some sense of balance and gingerly placed more and more weight on his feet.

"Alright... I gotta get to bed or something... this... whatever condition this is sucks," he murmured against her shoulder.

"Well, if it wasn't grounding electricity, I might've been able to paralyze you and you wouldn't be able to feel anything," Larxene replied with a jerk of her head, opening a portal behind Demyx.

"Now why couldn't you do that?" he complained, letting her adjust her position so she could walk him in the portal.

"Oh come on, I'm not _that _nice of a person," she shot back, grinning at the poor water elemental. She led him through the portal and out near his bed, leading him so he could sit on it. He sat for a moment, then moved himself up far enough on the bed that he could collapse on his stomach on it.

"Thanks... again," Demyx mumbled, turning his head so he could look at her.

"Why are you thanking me? I nearly killed you just so I could win a damned battle," if Larxene still possessed a heart, this might have been the time where her eyes watered up, and she would've apologized profusely. As it was, she simply waited for his response.

"It wasn't all that bad. I'm still alive... and besides," the arrogant grin returned to the Nocturne's face. "I got a kiss out of it. I say I came out pretty well."

Larxene slapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh you pathetic, desperate bastard..." she chided gently.

Demyx laughed and shrugged. "What can I say?"

"How about just asking next time?" the Nymph shot back, quirking an eyebrow as she smirked at him. Demyx's jaw fell open. "It's not like I would've really said no, you realize." With that she turned around, summoned up another portal and left him gaping.

-

A/N: Yeah. So. To answer a few questions... because I indeed do read my reviews. I don't know what kind of plant would need mulch like that. Alternatively, I believe I described Marly as having a _teal _tree in the first chapter, so anything's possible, eh? XD

And yeah. Demyx as a 'happy-schmappy dunce' makes me sigh, unless the genre is for humor and they purposely put him that way. -.o He's not really that stupid, you can't be a complete retard and get into something like Organization XIII. However, a little slow to pick up on signals? That's a trait shared by many males. That can stay. -isagirl-


	4. Chapter 4

Once again, The World That Never Was found itself swamped under rain. Most of the members grumbled something about it being _just convenient _that two days before they had to go back on active duty, it would start deluging.

There were other members who weren't as... opposing to the sudden onslaught of thunderstorms. Naturally, as a water elemental, Demyx was one of them. In fact, he'd been standing in front of the windows of his room since he'd woken up, simply watching and enjoying the soothing percussive tapping of the water as it hit the windows, punctuated every once in a while by the deep rumble of thunder.

A portal swirling open distracted him from his thoughts, while several choice words from a female voice were the first to emerge from it.

"God damned rain, I swear... I hate that stupid... 'go out in the rain, Larxene...'" she stepped angrily from the portal, and glared back at it as it closed. "'You're the only one who'd survive if you got struck'... asshole of... who does he think he is?"

"Now why'd you have to go out in the rain?" Demyx inquired, turning around to look at her. He had to suppress a laugh when he found her completely soaked to the bone.

The lightning elemental rolled her eyes. "The rain is agitating the Heartless, and they're all trying to flock into the castle for shelter. Kingdom Hearts knows how much Xemnas hates those little shadows ruining his false sense of light. And Kingdom Hearts also knows how much I hate getting _water _in my _coat_." She slapped her forehead again, turning back to face him. "Ah damn it, I came here to check on you, not complain about Xemnas and his stupid girly habits. Feeling any better?"

Demyx blinked in surprise. "Uh... y-yeah. Yeah, I am. A little sore from my muscles all seizing up... ah but don't worry! I'll be okay. I think I said that yesterday, and here's proof of it today."

"... You're such a dork," Larxene laughed, shaking her head.

"Only sometimes..." he answered back with a wide grin, leaning against the window and looking outside.

She sighed, running a gloved hand over her wet hair. "... I... for what... the first time in my non-existence? Yeah. I feel like I need to apologize, still. What I did wasn't exactly-"

"You were scared," the Nocturne interrupted, and his words rang through the air like a gunshot, calling forth immediate silence.

"What? I was n-"

"I could feel your hands shaking. You were trapped, and you were terrified, but without a heart your mind didn't know what the heck to make of it, so you went on the offensive," he turned back to her, shaking his head. "Something really bad must've happened to you when you still had your heart."

She just stood there, staring in shock. She began to speak several times, but failed to come up with a complete word. Finally giving up, Larxene just folded her arms over her chest and glared sullenly at nothing.

Demyx let the silence linger for a few moments, watching his companion and waiting for her to say or do something. It was rude to interrupt someone's thinking after all.

Finally, the lightning elemental sighed again. "Why can't you be the goofy moron everyone thinks you are?"

He shrugged. "Because... I'm not? You look cold and wet... want me to get you a towel or something?"

Larxene bit her lip. "I need to get out of this coat... it's freezing and wet..."

"Well, can you take it off? Uh... what I mean is... are you wearing something under it?" he chided himself mentally, she could take that to mean so many different things, and none of them had too appealing of consequences in Demyx's mind. "I mean... you seem like you want to stay here, and well, I wanna keep talking to you, but if you wanna run back to your room you can."

The Nymph sighed. "Marluxia's looking for me. I don't think he's happy, either."

Demyx laughed. "He'd never think of looking in here, huh?"

"He really doesn't like you," she admitted.

"He's gonna be thrilled when he finds out I kissed his... uh..." the water elemental trailed off, blinking, but before Larxene could say anything, he changed the subject. "If you wanna use the bathroom to dry off a little bit, go ahead. I don't think drip-drying is going to be comfortable or fast."

She nodded quickly and disappeared into the back room. A few minutes later, she re-emerged with another large, fluffy blue towel draped over her head and shoulders, her coat, shoes and gloves missing, but the pants still there. Demyx looked up, then quickly turned away. Towel or no, she was still showing a lot of skin. For a few moments, it would seem the lightning elemental didn't see what Demyx was doing, but was certainly surprised to see him shove his coat at her.

"Wha-?" Larxene looked down, blinking at the black mass of leather clenched tightly in the Nocturne's grip. Slowly, she reached out and grabbed it, surprised to see his hand fall away and him return to facing his back to her. She paused for another moment before slipping it on, dropping the towel in the process, and was immediately drawn to the warmth lingering inside of it, as well as the pleasant smell. However, that wasn't the only pleasant thing she was treated to, for as soon as she was done zipping the coat up she bore witness to Demyx's unclothed back.

It was, she decided with a smirk, very appealing. He did run a little bit on the thin side, but he had good muscle definition, particularly around his shoulders and upper arms, and managed to do so without looking disproportionate. A strange, quiet sound escaped the back of her throat just as it looked like Demyx was going to turn around, and without warning, she slipped her arms around his middle, holding him steadily and firmly. Demyx stiffened in surprise .

"Don't say a word, or move, or I'll fry you again..." With that warning, Larxene buried her face in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes. Slowly Demyx relaxed into her grip, a small smile tugging up the corners of his mouth, enjoying the peaceful silence that descended.

Their reverie wasn't to last too long however, as Axel came jogging through Demyx's door. "Hey! Dem, have you seen..." he gaped, jaw dropping, hand coming up to point as a reflex of shock.

Demyx blinked at him. "Oh hey Axel, what's up?"

Axel continued to gape. "What the heck is that?"

The Nocturne remained playing dumb, furrowing his eyebrows. "What the heck is what?"

"_That_," Axel finished, jutting his finger to the blond head resting on Demyx's shoulder.

"Aww, Axel. I don't think she'd appreciate being called after an inanimate object. Even without a heart we still have pronouns, you know."

"He's right. Now get out of here, number eight," Larxene growled, moving her head slightly so she could rest her chin on the shoulder in front of her, rocking up onto her toes to gain the needed extra height. She then proceeded to glare at Axel fiercely.

"Ah... uh..." the red head looked between the two of them. "Uh..." He looked back at the door for a moment, then resumed facing forward. "Marluxia was wondering if you've seen Larxene."

Demyx laughed, and leaned back slightly. "Now why would I have seen her around? She doesn't like me enough to give me the time of day..."

"I don't know," Axel replied. "But he's making it a point to annoy us to look around. He sent me here because he can't stand coming in here for some reason."

"I'm glad he can't," Larxene sighed, closing her eyes again. She was warm and content now, and would hate to have it interrupted.

Axel smirked. "Well, if you haven't seen her around, I'll be off." He threw a look over his shoulder as he began sauntering out. "You owe me for this one."

"I'll get you back later, you snarky bastard," the lightning elemental shot back.

Axel just laughed before stepping through the door again.

"I'm honestly surprised he did that..." Larxene said, eyebrow raised.

"Oh, Axel's not _that _mean unless you do something to him..." Demyx replied. "Besides. It pays to scratch his back every once in a while so he'll scratch yours."

The Nymph 'humphed.' "You're saying you're friends basically, right?"

Demyx did something akin to a snicker. "Well yeah. He's got his nose too far into everything not to be his friend."

"Feh," was her only response.

The Nocturne shook his head, before carefully stepping out of her grasp. Surprisingly enough, she let him, though she immediately missed the warmth of his presence.

"I better go put on a shirt before people get weird ideas... the rumors will be flying if anyone else walks in here," he called, walking towards a smaller, closed door. Larxene watched him go for a minute, admittedly just to watch him walk around shirtless before she turned back forward and walked to the chairs across the room, plopping down sideways in it like she usually did, taking a moment to lift up part of the hood of the cloak and bury her face in it. Some part of her kept calling her actions silly and childish. Nothing could come out of this. Those thoughts were ignored, and pushed to the back of her mind.

It didn't matter that nothing could come of this. What counted was that she enjoyed what happened.

Demyx emerged a few minutes later, in a somewhat baggy black t-shirt, and plopped down on the chair semi-across from hers. It didn't take long for someone to speak.

"Hey, do you think the Superior's plan'll work? That this big old glowing moon-thing will actually be the thing to give us our hearts back?" Larxene said thoughtfully.

"Well..." Demyx threw a look over at the 'big old glowing moon-thing'. "I can't say it isn't strange... or an eccentric idea. And frankly, I don't think we should be rounding up hearts like cattle in this way, but... we've got to trust the Superior knows what he's doing. He wouldn't be leading us if he didn't have some intelligence."

"Hm. I wonder... if we do manage to get our hearts back... do you think we'll end up in the same place?"

"What do ya mean?"

"Like, when we lost them, didn't you wake up in Twilight Town, too?"

"Yeah, I did."

"So what's going to happen when our hearts come back? Are we going to just magically teleport back to our home world, or wake up in one place...?"

"I don't know. I think it would be nice for all of us to end up in one place, though. It'd be fun to see what everyone was like back when they were..." Demyx trailed off, finding it hard to force out his next words. "Back when _we_ all were decent people." He looked at the ground and fell silent.

"You alright?" Larxene asked, watching him.

"I never really thought about it before. I mean... what we are going to become...? The Organization and all... I mean, it's not like I _like _being a Nobody and having this dull ache in my chest while the rest feels numb... but when we get our hearts back, we'll all go our separate ways. And furthermore... we won't be _us _anymore. You know? As Nobodies we're just like... placeholders until our hearts get back and take over again... I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore..." He scratched his head and laughed sheepishly.

"No, I get what you're trying to say. We get our hearts back, the Organization will disband, we'll all go home to mommy and be happy. We'll probably forget about our time spent here, wandering the middle of gray nothing... and we'll forget each other... and even if we do meet, we won't fully recognize anyone because... no one will be how we remembered them. Yeah, I mean, I hate half the people here, but still. Then I have to ask myself... do I want to remember what being a Nobody was like?"

"I do."

"Why?"

"Because it's an experience of my life. A unique one, and at the same time, one I'll never want to repeat. Now I know how not to be an idiot and get my heart taken. With a little luck, I might be able to keep my water manipulation powers, and fortify myself that much more against the Heartless."

"With a little luck. Since when have any of _us _had luck? We've got to be the unluckiest bastards in the universe."

"Oh I dunno. I thought Lady Luck was sleeping with Luxord."

A laugh. "Different kind of luck."

Demyx grinned. "Not that I'm complaining about you being here or anything, but what are you going to do about Marluxia?"

Larxene's face darkened somewhat, and she took to staring at the ceiling. "I don't know. I guess as soon as my stuff dries out, I'll go find out what the heck he's making such a ruckus over."

"It should be done soon..." Demyx looked away.

"You don't want me to leave, do you? You realize that Marluxia won't leave anyone alone until he's found me, right...?" she replied, sighing softly.

"Yeah, I do. But-"

A crash interrupted the proceedings, followed by a particularly long list of vilifications.

"Ah hell... there he is..." Larxene groaned, leaning her head back.

"I thought he wouldn't come in here?"

"He must be really desperate. Keep quiet if you know what's good for you."

"Oh, I know..." Demyx sunk down into his chair, putting himself out of sight for the moment, suddenly glad that his chair conveniently faced away from the door. He was smart enough not to get between the other two.

"What the HELL are you doing in _here_?" Marluxia burst out. "This is the idiot's room."

"Maybe because I want to be?" Larxene snipped back icily.

"You _want _to be in here? _Why?_"

"Maybe because it doesn't reek to high heaven? Perhaps because it's not _violently, _and admittedly very _ugly _pink. Maybe because the owner is a half decent conversationalist?"

Marluxia snorted a laugh. "Conversationalist... Too stupid to tie his own shoes is more like it."

Demyx winced and whispered, barely audible to himself, "Oh come _on_."

"_In any case,_" Marluxia continued, looking around the room distastefully. "We have things to do, Larxene, and you know it. Come on." He turned around.

"What are you, my mother?"

Marluxia paused, and suddenly the air in the room tensed up. Demyx flinched.

"No," the pink haired male said. "But I am your lover."

Larxene laughed bitterly, then shot a retort, words dripping in honeyed venom. "Right. Lover, because you can really love without a heart. You tell the same to Naminé?"

Demyx felt his lungs stop working all of a suddenly. Marluxia was doing _what _with _who?_ If he survived this, he was going to _have_ to drop that one on Axel.

"That's none of your concern," Marluxia ground out through clenched teeth.

"Riiiight. I'm your 'lover', but I can't know about your personal life. Because that makes sense," came the reply, and Larxene crossed her arms.

Marluxia turned back to face her, then seemed to notice that the coat she was wearing was awfully big in the shoulders and dragged on the ground. "That's Demyx's coat, isn't it?"

"Oh, is that jealousy I see rearing its ugly head, Marly? You really shouldn't get so uptight over it. I mean, if you can pound Naminé on the side, why shouldn't I be able to try something new?"

Demyx was going to bring that up with her later, but as he thought on it a little more, he realized she hadn't tried anything sexual yet. It left him somewhat confused as to the nature of their relationship.

"For your information," Marluxia growled, trying and failing to keep his temper down. "I have yet to engage any... illicit activities with her."

"Key word, _yet_," Larxene pointed out venomously. "You saving her for a special occasion, then? Christen your newly acquired castle and higher position in the Organization with her virgin blood? Are you just using me to slake the lust that's for her on the side then, Marluxia?"

Marluxia was silent for just long enough that Larxene pounced on it. "I knew it. You're disgusting. Go back to your little girl, you deranged freak. _We _have no more to talk about."

"Oh yes we do, Larxene. Where is the little prick anyway?"

"Uh oh, Marluxia's resorting to name calling now. Time to tuck tail and go home," Larxene mocked.

"You stay out of this... where is he?"

Demyx took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and popped up in his chair, turning around with a wry grin. "You shouldn't frown so much, Marluxia. It'll make you age faster."

-

A/N: BUAHAHAHAHA. Cliffhanger. Yeah. To the ice elemental in the peanut gallery: through the boot, they can't be made of too tough fabric XP. I forgot to mention that. As well as a couple other things. I don't know if I'll edit the last chapter, I'll admit it was a tiny bit rushed.

As for the rest of you reviewers! I love you all! Bestow upon me your kind words! It keeps me motivated. :D


	5. Chapter 5

The silence in the wake of Demyx's introduction descended on the room like a blanket of pure cyanide.

"What... did you say... you... raging idiot?" Marluxia questioned slowly, trying to keep his temper down.

"I said if you keep frowning like that, you'll get wrinkles. Didn't you hear me the first time? Well, at least I'd rather be stupid than deaf, then I'd have a better chance of picking up wisdom from others rather than forcing my superior ideas on them," the water elemental replied very placidly.

"Ego check, aisle nine," Larxene muttered under her breath, a half-smile forming on her lips.

Marluxia, on the other hand, seemed genuinely taken aback. "What... Who do you think you are?"

"What, me?" Demyx raised his eyebrows and blinked. "I'm Demyx, number nine of Organization XIII, element of water, and master of the Dancer Nobodies. My title is The Melodious Nocturne. Nice to meet you, are you new around here?"

Marluxia snarled something, a curse perhaps, before returning to glare at the younger man. "You're _toying _with me, aren't you? You think this is a game? I'd say I rank higher than you, number nine. The Superior even granted me possession of my own _castle._"

"What, Oblivion?" Demyx laughed. "Ho man, that rundown old place? That castle is quite literally in the middle of _nowhere_. You should've seen the Superior's face when we first found it, he was mortified that he'd actually sought to acquire it. Oh that's right, you couldn't have seen the look, that was _before _you joined. Well, have fun with that mismatched pile of junk. I, personally, would rather have my own Nobody type and stay here. At least here has its own climate control. That castle is just perpetually freezing."

Marluxia's frown deepened. "I still believe the Superior gave me that Castle as some sign of favor to him-"

"Really? I'd swear it's because you're a thorn in his side and he wants to get you out of _here_," the water elemental interrupted, chuckling.

An eye twitch from the pink-haired man. "Whatever the case may be... Larxene, I still need to speak with you."

"Can it wait?" She asked plainly, obviously not willing to move.

"No, I'd need the answer by tomorrow. I wasn't going to ask, but..." dark blue eyes shot towards the man smirking from the chair, then snapped back to the only female in the room. "_Something _or _somebody-_"

"Nobody. I'm a Nobody," Demyx interjected, watching with satisfaction as Marluxia's eyebrow jumped again. "Don't stare; you're one too."

"Has driven some sort of a wedge between us," Another glance at the Nocturne. The younger man's face remained neutral, but he was obviously struggling not to say something else out of turn.

"You're the one that's driven the wedge, Marluxia. However, seeing as I don't think anyone from the Organization will be sleeping tonight if I don't hear what you have to say, then I suppose I have no choice but to listen to you," Larxene replied without much hesitation.

The pink haired man remained quiet for a short moment, then closed his eyes and sighed. "Then, if I may ask that we please not discuss this in front of your... toy... as it doesn't directly concern him."

"Oh, don't be mad, Marly. We haven't engaged in any illicit activities _yet_," Demyx interjected, placing careful emphasis on the final word and accompanying it with a very obvious wink in Larxene's direction. The blond woman's mouth twitched up into an amused smirk.

Marluxia ruffled at that, his lip pulling up into an angry sneer that the Nocturne would have to laugh at when the other man was out of earshot. The look was the perfect definition of the word 'snooty'. He then turned around and began to walk out of the room, Larxene following after him with a defeated sigh.

Demyx watched them both go, his somewhat arrogant smirk fading down to something almost sad. He turned back to the windows after they had both passed through the door, watching the rain outside. Several minutes ticked by, or at least what passed for several minutes, before the water elemental decided that kneeling on his chair like that would not be the best way to pass time before his companion returned.

He watched the storm rage outside for a moment more, then slowly stood up and walked for the door, shedding his shirt, shoes and gloves on the way. He threw open the doors, closing his eyes for a moment to listen to the sweet melody of the drenching rain before finally subjecting himself to it. It was cold, it stung with its ferocity, but at the same time it was calming to him. He walked forward to the railing and leaned against it, enjoying the feel of water surrounding him, and the playful dance of lightning amongst the clouds. As he stood there, he let his thoughts wander around, and wasn't surprised when they came back to the last week of his life. He would never complain about what had happened, but _damn _if it wasn't strange.

"Oh come on, Nocturne, I finally get dried off and now you're going to make me come out in the rain again?" Larxene's voice tore him from his thoughts and actually succeeded in making him jump slightly.

Demyx turned around and smiled at her, but the look quickly faded into one of shock when he realized she'd taken off his coat. Rolling her eyes, the lightning elemental closed the doors behind her and walked to the railing, taking a place next to her male companion.

Silence reigned for a long moment, neither quite feeling it was the right time to say anything yet, though Demyx was quite curious as to what it was Marluxia wanted to discuss with her. He got his answer in a sudden sentence that once again took him off-guard.

"He wants me to go to Castle Oblivion with him," Larxene said finally, sighing, though the sound was lost to the pounding rain. "He says I'm in too deep to back out now, but that he'd give me the choice in any case."

"Not much of a choice if you're 'in too deep', though I have to ask, what are you in?" Demyx turned to look at her, eyebrow quirked.

"I'm... Marluxia is rather unhappy with the Superior's decisions as of late. He doesn't think that Xemnas is leader material... that he's not going fast enough to get our hearts back," the lightning elemental answered.

"Wha-"

"He wants to take over the Organization."

Demyx took a step back. "But... that's... Larxene, the punishment for mutiny is death!"

"I know," she sighed, leaning farther on the railing.

"And you're in on that? If-if Xemnas finds out, that's it!"

"I know! I know, I know. I get it. But... I don't want to go to Oblivion. That's where Marluxia is planning on staging the final part of his betrayal."

"An- no. We can't tell anyone about that, can we? If Xemnas finds out Marluxia is doing that and gets him for it, he'll tell you were in on it, too."

"Yeah... but I can tell Marluxia I'm not going, and I don't think he'll try to stop me. If he does, someone'll find out what he's plotting, and he'll never get the chance to go to the other castle. I think he'd bank on being able to succeed with his little plot in order to get back at me later."

"If you're not going, his plans will never work."

"What?"

"I don't know if you know it yet, but the Superior is... somewhat afraid of lightning as an element. It's powerful, but too unpredictable for him. And the fact it has the potential to do as much damage to the wielder of it keeps Xemnas from using it himself, even though he uses all the rest of ours any other time."

"I actually never knew that."

"It's kind of weird, but it's the truth. That's why the Superior has his room well above cloud level, so he doesn't have to be around it. Without you, Marluxia doesn't stand half a chance. I wonder if he knows that."

"Probably, he seemed very... friendly when explaining the situation, as if his charisma would somehow influence my decision."

"You're not going?"

"Not a chance. Why should I do that when I've got a perfectly good setup here?" Larxene laughed, and nudged Demyx with her elbow. Once more they found themselves enjoying the lack of speech between them in favor of watching the fury of the storm. The wind was actually not that bad, so the rain itself wasn't too unpleasant.

"Hey, what's going to be the first thing you do when you get your heart back?" Demyx asked suddenly, turning to look at the lightning elemental.

"I never actually thought about it. It's not like it's a car or something where you could go drive around for a while, and run the errands you never did," she laughed. "Maybe track you down and drag you home with me."

The Nocturne's grin returned. "You promise?"

"Well yeah. As long as you have your heart still. If you don't... well... depending on the situation, I'd help you look for it," Larxene replied, smirking back and nodding her head.

"Oh, how sweet and nice. What's the catch?"

She began laughing, hard. "Oh... nothing. I'll figure out my payment for it later."

"Yeah I thought so."

Quiet again fell upon them, the storm seemingly picked up.

"Ah here's a question, your obvious inclination towards music leads me to believe that you were a musician of some sort in the past life. However, I must ask... why'd you keep on being one even after you lost your heart?" Larxene asked, finally.

"Well, that's actually a fairly easy question to answer. See, I've always been taught that real music comes from the heart, then flows out into the instrument. However, I wanted to prove you didn't really need a heart to make music people would love. That and... it's the only real connection I have left to my past life. My goal, before I get my heart back, is to get a song together that I can take with me over and people will absolutely love," He smirked.

"Strange goal," the blond woman said.

"It keeps me from being idle when I'm not doing a mission or anything else," Demyx replied. "This is still taking time out of my life, being a Nobody like this. No point in wasting the time I have to spend as one."

"You're _such_ a dork, Demyx," Larxene rolled her eyes.

"Heh. Oh, if you don't mind my asking..." he looked away for a second, swallowing hard. "How old were you when you lost your heart?"

"You ask that to everyone?"

"Well, yeah actually I do. I was surprised to find Axel was a year younger than me."

"How old were you?"

"Uh, if I remember correctly I was twenty two."

"Well, you've got me beat as well, by somewhere in range of... two to three years, I don't remember exactly. I think I made myself forget."

"You're kidding," Demyx stared at her, eyebrows raised.

"Ah, nope. Similarly, I can tell you Marluxia was _almost _twenty six."

"Holy... anyone else?"

Larxene laughed. "You like knowing this information? The only other one I can tell you would be Roxas is like fourteen or fifteen, I forget which one, but he announces that to like everyone."

"He keeps saying he's _almost_ fifteen," Demyx rolled his eyes and laughed.

"That's probably why I could never remember. Now I have a question for you," the lightning elemental said, looking at him.

"Shoot."

"Why are we still out in the rain? It's hard to talk without yelling over the sound."

"Because I like the rain, and besides, you didn't have to come out here."

"Well what the hell was I supposed to do? Tell you to go into your own room?"

"You could've and I would have listened."

Larxene rolled her eyes, and they were once again left listening to the dull roar of the rain falling around them.

"Well then, Demyx," the lightning elemental said, turning to look at him, and found her companion looking back at her, a strange half-smile on his face. The words she was going to say next never came, dying in her throat. "What are you smiling at?"

He quirked an eyebrow. "Well, I was going to ask the same question about going inside, but I think I might've come up with a better one."

"What could be better than getting out of this freezing downpour?"

"I was going to take up that offer on asking about kissing you," Demyx began, but never really got a chance to ask the question as he suddenly felt himself shoved into the railing, Larxene grabbing it on either side to pin him in place, while she pressed the line of her body into his, bringing their faces scant inches from touching. She was grinning the entire time, an almost unnervingly dark look.

"You don't need to ask the question when the answer is always yes. I thought you'd gotten that," she said quietly, lips brushing against his with nearly every word. "Apparently, you need to be taught."

Finally, she finished closing the distance and brought their lips into contact, raising herself more on her toes to get better leverage. It started out somewhat innocent, but quickly escalated into something that would easily be called _hot, _Larxene easily winning dominance over the mild-mannered water elemental, ravaging the inside of his mouth in a manner that left him weak in the knees. Or perhaps that was caused by her grinding her hips against his when she felt the reaction the kiss was eliciting from him.

They finally broke off, and Demyx was left gasping, mouth slightly ajar and chest heaving. "You don't do anything subtle, do you?"

She laughed, trying to calm her own breathing. "There's no fun in that." With that same, dark grin on her face, she backed up, and turned around and walked into his room, calling back over her shoulder. "Let's get out of the rain, yeah?"

"Holy... _shit_..." he gasped out, trying to pry his white-knuckled grip off of the railing and will his legs to move again. Though he was not one for vilifications, it was the only thing that came to mind. He'd honestly never had a female do that to him before, and dear nothing what he wouldn't give to have it happen again.

Finally, he managed to get his legs to move and shakily made his way back into his room, only to have Larxene throw him on the ground the minute the door was closed, planting herself very firmly above him.

"Ah... you really like taking things rough, don't you?" He asked airily, looking straight into her eyes.

She laughed. "Oh, this isn't rough yet, water-boy." She leaned forward to nip at his earlobe. "Rough is when I'll make you scream in pain and you'll _beg _for more."

Demyx didn't doubt she'd make good on her words. "And all I wanted was a kiss."

"That's a damn lie."

Silence, a short groan that couldn't have been pain.

"You're right."

-

A/N: This almost didn't get out today. This is technically one of the stopping points in the story before the next arc starts up, so it might take me a day or two to update again.

Read and review. I must say, I truly love you all. Thank you for the kind words before :D

By the way, sorry it's late.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N part one! Hallo all and welcome once more to the world I'm figuring out called Between the Silences. I haven't updated in a while, and the reason is simple; I was sick, and then school started. Now that things have evened out a little bit and I'm back in my groove (albeit somewhat tired), I can start giving you things to read again.

I will refresh my disclaimer here: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters showcased within. That's Square's job and damn it if I don't want that job, but hey. We can't always get what we want.

Thank you all for your patience, loyal fans and reviewers. I shall reward your kindness with more random sequences of words. Also of note... I forgot I had anonymous reviews blocked or not allowed, or whatever you call them. You can drop anonymous reviews now, people without an account that like this story. I apologize for that. On with the show!

-

Silence.

Usually, this was a bad sign, but ever since a few days prior, it wasn't quite so disturbing. Six of the members of Organization XIII were gone, sent out on assignment to the Castle Oblivion. Among them was Axel, one of the primary troublemakers when tensions were high. Without Axel, Roxas was subdued as well, spending most of his time in his room.

In fact, that seemed to be the norm after the assignment was handed out, most of the Nobodies kept to themselves in their rooms, not bothering to meet or interact with each other much unless it was forced upon them. Even Saix, with his blazing temper preferred to storm and rage about within the room formallycalled "Addled Impasse", though everyone else had taken to calling it "The Dwelling of Lunatics".

It was in this almost unnerving silence within the Castle that Demyx was found, humming something to himself as he strode through a large, empty room, a mandolin dangling from his right hand. He stopped and plucked the strings, listening as what should have been a pleasant chord ring, reverberate, and echo back grotesquely from the strange shape and size of the room. It caused him to cock a half-smile, and keep walking.

The all too familiar sound of a portal opening stopped Demyx in his tracks, and he turned around confused. From the portal stepped, of all people, Luxord.

"Hello there, Demyx," Luxord said simply, making no move to continue speaking. He was expecting a greeting back, and it was one the water elemental was willing to give.

"Good..." he looked to the ever-black sky, eyes flicking over the incomplete, heart-shaped moon hovering in the sky. "... evening, Luxord. What brings you to the Place Where Music Sounds Funny?"

Luxord gave a short laugh at that, and met the Nocturne's eyes as they returned to watch him. "Not much, my young friend. I have some questions for you, where were you headed?"

Demyx frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. "Back to my room... maybe to drop by and make sure Roxas hasn't tried to jump out of a window yet."

"The boy will be fine," Luxord shook his head. "He shouldn't be _feeling _depressed the way he is, he'll realize his folly soon enough..."

"What you're not saying is either that or he'll decide to go with what he's 'feeling' and do something drastic. You're just banking that he won't simply by intelligence. Risky gamble, Luxord," Demyx stated simply, picking up the mandolin and cradling it in his arm like a baby. "Or are you simply doing it for the argument?"

Luxord actually laughed at that, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Well, caught in the act, I suppose. Good to see you're still learning things... and toughening up it would seem. No more happy babble from you."

"It's easier than you think when you've got a 'teacher' like mine," the water elemental laughed back. "She's whipping it out of me... slowly but surely."

"Don't lose all of it, though. I will tell you it makes you unique," the Gambler replied.

Demyx grinned, and stuck his tongue out. "I still have a lot more where that came from."

"How is she, by the way?"

"Sore," the Nocturne replied, his tone stating clearly that he would be unwilling to elaborate as to why, and from the look that crossed Luxord's face at the proclamation, the Gambler wouldn't inquire farther.

"_Beyond_ that."

"Well, whatever it is I'm losing, she seems to be picking up pieces of it."

Luxord blanched. "... oh Twilight help us all she's getting happier..."

"_I _personally don't see much of a difference when we're alone, but when she's with other people they say she doesn't pick fights nearly as much, even when I'm not around," Demyx replied. "Now, Luxord. You're usually viciously frank, and here we are going on with small talk. There's something wrong, and you need to talk to me about it. So go."

Luxord held up his hands. "Another bluff called."

"That wasn't hard. It's not in your character description to be that sociable. Now what did you need?"

"A simple request, really," the Gambler reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple letter from the Superior.

"Huh. He gave it to you to deliver?" Demyx blinked, taking the card, and setting the mandolin against the wall in the process.

"Xigbar is out on assignment at the moment, and Saix is busy... with important matters."

The Nocturne nodded and opened the note, reading it over silently. His eyebrows inched up little by little as each word was read. Finished, he continued looking over the last few lines. "He wants me to babysit my g... uh... Larxene."

"Indeed," Luxord replied.

"Why?"

"Well... he's been noting her strange behavior as of late and wants to make sure it's not going to be... detrimental to any future assignments."

"You're _horrible _at lying today, Luxord. You know more about this Organization than anyone but Axel... what's the _real _reason?"

Luxord just gave a wry smile. "You're beginning to understand the game now, Demyx."

"This would all be just a game..." Demyx sighed. "What is the reason. Now I'm asking you for it rather than you volunteering the information. That's how it goes in the higher-ups, right?"

"Need to know basis, Nocturne. You don't need to know," the Gambler shrugged.

Demyx's hand twitched closed into a tight fist. "Luxord. Why does the Superior want me to spy on someone I am, for all intents and purposes, close to? That is a gamble of trust and security that I can't afford to take given her... volatile nature."

"Like I said," Luxord smiled. "Need to know basis. You don't need to know." Suddenly, and quite forcefully, the Gambler felt himself pinned against a wall, a pair of angry sea green eyes boring into his own, gloved hands bunching the front of his coat.

"What... is the reason, Luxord?"

"My oh my. It would seem seriousness isn't the only thing Larxene broke you into... temper, temper little Demyx," Luxord teased, his face molding into a twisted grin.

Demyx dropped the taller man and backed away, eyes wide in shock as he stared at his hands, like they would hold the answers for his actions.

Luxord laughed once again, this time sounding all the more darkly amused. "Well. Now that you've unwittingly given me some interesting information, I will make an equivalent exchange. As of earlier today, Marluxia seems to have cut off communication with Castle Oblivion. The Superior and Saix both smell trouble brewing, and they're getting a bit worried it might be mutiny. Given Larxene and Marluxia's past involvement together combined with Xemnas' growing paranoia, they have decided to put her under a watch in case she turns out to be some sort of... 'inside man' or something, relaying information on their activities to the folks at Castle Oblivion."

"That's absurd. Everyone knows of their falling out. They come the closest to hating each other nowadays that I've ever seen Nobodies be..." Demyx replied, still looking somewhat shell shocked from his previous actions.

"Yes well. It's the Superior, and he's unsettled. You should know _that_," Luxord said with boredom. "Well, I've done what I came here to do-"

"That's not all the information, is it?" Demyx said, stopping the older man from leaving. Luxord simply chuckled in response and continued to make a move to leave. The water elemental flinched, and tried to think of something to give Luxord to keep the man talking. "You're looking for another exchange... here's one I never even got the chance to tell Axel, though I'm sure he's figured it out by now. Marluxia has interest in Naminé."

"So do many people. Her powers are simply amazing, and could be used for so many things, another reason for the Superior's concern," the Gambler replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I didn't mean like that, Luxord. I meant he has interest in her as a female. As a wom- no, as a girl. Not just her powers. Her... body," Demyx cringed at his own words, instantly feeling dirty for even mentioning such a deplorable lust.

"Oh ho?" Luxord turned around. "_That _is news _indeed._ Is your source credible?"

Demyx swallowed and nodded. "Larxene was talking about it when she was arguing with Marluxia at the end of our little vacation. Part of the reason for their... breaking apart... was because of what might be called jealousy on Larxene's part. She called him out, and Marluxia didn't deny the accusation. He simply said something about them not performing any illicit activities _yet_." The Nocturne closed his mouth after that, plainly telling Luxord that was all the information he'd give out willingly; he'd need to use the rest to bribe things out of the Gambler.

"_Fascinating_. What do _you _want to know?"

"The Superior isn't one for needless paranoia, or even for caring much what we do. Why the sudden interest? And why aren't they storming Castle Oblivion?"

"As of right now, they're going to give Marluxia the benefit of the doubt, and give him a few days to report back in, citing it may be injury or business or... Vexen blew a hole in Castle or something. However, since Axel isn't talking either, it's putting them even farther on edge. He's their... 'inside man'. As you _should _know, the Superior's plans are about to reach a vital stage... one of many. Some sort of large distraction like internal unrest at that moment could prove fatal to his scheming, and perhaps some of the rest of us as well. He can't afford to have such a distraction, and that moment is when he's thinking Marluxia will strike, it'll be the one opportunity the man will have to truly take power from Xemnas. So, Xemnas is covering all of his bases, just to make sure."

"As he should," Demyx nodded. "I personally don't see Larxene helping Marluxia out at this point, but... I'll... sleep with one eye open I suppose. What happens if Marluxia doesn't reopen contact?"

Luxord shrugged, and Demyx opened his mouth to say something else he knew, but the Gambler waved his hand to silence the younger man. "Save your words, as fascinating as they may be. I honestly _do not _know. They may choose to ignore Marluxia and delay the next stage in the plans as long as possible to throw off his timing so they may deal with him when he strikes. They may send someone in their to help Axel in ridding us of the traitors. They may just isolate Marluxia in the Castle and let the Keybearer take care of him. That is information I can only speculate on at the moment. If I get anything new, though, I'll be sure to taunt you with it."

Demyx nodded. "Thanks, Luxord."

"Save it for a time when you're indebted. We're even at this moment," the Gambler shrugged, and opened a portal behind him. "A pleasure doing business with you, I look forward to our next exchange."

The Nocturne swallowed and nodded again. "Y-yeah."

"Relax, Demyx. No harm, no foul," with that, Luxord stepped into the portal and disappeared.

Silence reigned over the Castle That Never Was again, Demyx simply standing in the middle of the large room trying to piece together everything that Luxord had said. He hadn't known any of that... he wasn't as into the politics of the Organization as he probably should be, he left that up to the people that actually held influence and weren't labeled as a 'whiny, nasal, annoying dork'. But now he was, even on a small scale, part of it. He knew things none of the other Organization members knew... with the exception of perhaps three or four. He could do horrible things with that information, if he told the wrong person it could quickly spiral into tragedy... if he told anyone that information it wouldn't have a good ending. Not to mention Luxord trusted him enough to share those words... he highly doubted the man would've said anything if he didn't think Demyx could be trusted with such important information.

It was frightening. No, it scared the _crap_ out of him. He didn't need to know any of it, and yet he had bargained his way into the information, but for what end?

He knew he should've just taken the orders without question like usual.

He grabbed the mandolin and fled quickly, heading right for the one place he could go to, the one place he could calm his racing thoughts. Without even looking he jogged into the room marked "XII", running into the owner less than two steps into the door. The impact knocked them both to the ground, but before Larxene had the chance to ask Demyx what the _hell _was going on she found herself on the receiving end of a particularly desperate kiss.

When he finally relented, she seized either side of his face to hold him still and looked right into his eyes. "Demyx, what the hell is wrong with you?"

His face scrunched up into an almost shy look. "It's... nothing..."

"You're a baaad liar, water-boy," she stated, narrowing her eyes. "What is it?" His eyes flicked away from hers to look at the ground, and she jerked his head to regain his attention. "Demyx!"

"I-I was talking with Luxord, alright?"

"What did he want?"

"He... wanted to tell me some stuff..."

"Like...? Demyx, you're acting like a kid. What was it he wanted?"

"H-he told me to w-watch my back, that the Superior was starting to get nervous... something about Castle Oblivion... I don't know exactly, alright?"

Larxene's electric blue eyes narrowed skeptically, and Demyx's breathing caught in his throat. She knew he was lying, he could tell, it was written all over that look.

"So what does that have anything to do with what you're doing now?" the lightning elemental asked, slowly removing her hands from his face, and letting her fingers rest lightly at the collar of his coat.

"I just- I need to not think about it right now, alright? It's... too much..." he leaned forward and buried his face against the side of her neck. "I just..."

"I get it... I'll expect a better answer later, though..." Larxene stated, tilting her head slightly to the side to give him more room to work with. For once, she didn't roll him over and take control. Even though her muscles all protested vehemently, even though the part of her mind that was sadist was screaming her weakness at her, even though another part of her brain was panicking and crying that she was trapped at her... even though Larxene _didn't do bottom_, she simply exhaled slowly, and relaxed into his hands. For once, and probably the first time since she'd lost her heart, she simply let him take what he wanted.

She hoped it wasn't a mistake.

And it wasn't.

-

A/N part two! D: Sorry again for lateness. Continue to R and R and I'll continue to love you more, yes even you Mr. Random Flamer I'm Bound To Get. I like flames, they give Demyx something to pour water on between chapters. Welcome to arc two of the story.

I suppose I should stick a teeny tiny AU sticker on this story since Larxene obviously isn't going to be part of the Castle Oblivion mutiny... call it artistic freedom. However, I _did _say there were six members in Oblivion, and if Larxene isn't one of them, then who is? OH THE CONTHPIRACIES!

Yeah. I'm a dork. :P Until next chapter... which should be around soon. I SWEAR! cowers You can put the bricks down. I'll make good on that promise come hell or high water.


	7. Chapter 7

Silence in Castle Oblivion wasn't nearly as tense as it was in the Castle That Never Was. In fact, silence in Castle Oblivion was fairly commonplace between the random sounds that emanated from the lower levels and the occasional loud snarl from Marluxia.

Whatever the case was, the silence was uncomfortable to Axel. He never had liked there being nothing to listen to, the reason he caused so much trouble back at 'home'.

On the particular day, however, Axel noted that something had Marluxia on edge. It was evident Naminé could feel it too, as her attention kept being pulled from drawing to watching the older man pace about the room like an agitated tiger. Axel simply remained leaning against the wall behind her.

"What the hell is wrong with that woman? I offer her the chance at fortune and power at my side in control of all Nobodies, and what does she do?" Marluxia growled. It was his usual rant, and was as usual coupled with intense amounts of pacing. Naminé sometimes said she wondered how he hadn't worn a pit in the floor yet. "She runs off with that... idiot rock star wannabe. I would like to know what he has going for him that I do not."

Axel and Naminé both chose to remain quiet, though both had by now figured out the real reason for his ranting; he'd lost one of the key elements to his plan, and it was because of another man.

Jealousy, the red haired man had noted, was one of the few things to set Marluxia off. Just the mere mention of the events at the Castle That Never Was could turn him into a ranting beast, a humorous sight indeed. Normally, Axel used it to give Naminé a break from the advances the older man kept subjecting her to. She seemed grateful in her own way, smiling appreciatively at him when she knew the leader of the Castle wasn't looking.

Once more the Assassin fell into silence, grumbling under his breath about everything that had happened to him since he became a Nobody, or at least that was what it sounded like. Finally, Marluxia stopped, placing a hand on his chin and seemingly falling into deep thought. Naminé took the opportunity to put the sketch book and crayon down onto her lap and flex her hand to loosen it up. Something popped, and her face contorted slightly.

Axel could only blink as Marluxia all but flew to the young girl's side, kneeling down and taking her hand, only to kiss the middle knuckle of each finger individually while whispering soothing words. Naminé simply looked at the pink haired man, exhausted and wary. His words were becoming more forced, which meant his patience was wearing thin. Soon enough he'd give up trying to woo the young girl with words and simply take her by force.

The Flurry took this opportunity to clear his throat and once again divert Marluxia's attention. "Well, we've got at least one member in this castle that has no idea what your plans are, I think Vexen, Lexaeus and Zexion are beginning to catch on. You could... potentially lead _him_ into helping you. It would take some careful word manipulation, but you've got the silver tongue for it."

"Ah yes..." Marluxia said, standing up and looking around. "Where is he, by the way?"

"I believe he's downstairs again," Axel replied. "You will have to do it soon, though, or the three elder members will leak their suspicions to him, if they haven't already."

The Assassin paced again. "Where is the Keybearer?"

"Working his way up here. He's on... the seventh floor I believe," he looked to Naminé for confirmation, and she nodded.

"So close already... time is short. Axel... send a distraction down to him, try and buy us more time."

The Flurry nodded, but didn't leave yet. He was going to see if he could out wait the older man in the room, just for the sake of not leaving the two others alone. Axel had developed what may have been a protective streak over Naminé, if only because of the disgusting nature of Marluxia's apparent friendliness.

Finally, it seemed as though the standoff was over, as Marluxia left the room with nothing more than a glance at the young girl, Axel followed soon after.

The other side of Marluxia's portal led to the library- a common meeting ground besides Naminé's room. There, silhouetted against the large, multi-colored book shelf stood a tall, well-built man.

"Xaldin," the pink haired man said, and the figure turned around.

"Yes?" the response came, with more than a little bit of impatience lacing the soft voice.

"I have some things I need help with."

---

Once again, the Superior had called a meeting. Less than a month out from their rather tumultuous vacation, and already he had _something else_ to say.

Larxene took stock of the meeting room with a bit of a frown. Half of the members were gone, their chairs cold and off-white and lonely in the large, circular room. Eerie would be a good word to use to describe the desolate area, she figured. Of course being afraid of it was another matter- that required a heart.

Taking note that Larxene had hesitated entering the room, Demyx quietly jumped from his chair and walked up next to her, fingers of one hand gently entwining with hers, while his other hand came to rest on the small of her back.

"This place is so creepy when it's empty," she grumbled, frowning deeper. Everyone that would be there was with the exception of Saix and Xemnas. "And where are our beloved commanding officers?"

"I don't know... we all thought it was kind of odd for them not to be here a half hour early, too," Demyx commented, looking around the room once more, though he could only partially see Luxord of the other three sitting in the room.

"I don't even want to know what they're doing," the blond woman finally said, stepping forward and away from the water elemental and heading towards the chair marked 'XII'.

Demyx chuckled, following after her, but in the other direction. His seat was across the room from hers. Along the way he looked to the grand total of three other members in the room, trying to figure out their reactions to the sparse occupation of the room.

Roxas looked angry and sullen, leaning low and heavily in the chair with his arms crossed. Luxord had an amused look, the slightest smirk pulling up the corners of his mouth. Xigbar wasn't paying attention to anything, just looking bored and for all the world like he wanted to leave. Larxene was still frowning, her legs crossed and leaning back against her hands in her usual pose.

Demyx let himself float up and onto the seat, waiting in the silence of the meeting room for something to happen. It was definitely not like the Superior and Saix to be late at all, and that worried him.

Finally, the sound of a portal swirling open filled the air, followed by the sharp, pronounced clack of boots on the hard ground. Everyone's attention turned immediately to the noise, but faces fell somewhat as Saix was the one to walk out. He regarded everyone icily, and Demyx winced internally. Things must be going terrible. The water elemental turned to look at Luxord, only to find the older man's face a careful blank.

"As some of you know," Saix began, startling everyone, then looking pointedly at Luxord. "There has been some... trouble as of let in Castle Oblivion. Marluxia has cut contact, Axel hasn't been heard from..." Roxas flinched and seemed to become angrier. "Nor have Xaldin, Zexion, Vexen or Lexaeus. Treachery seems to be afoot. We have finally come to a decision." With that, the blue-haired man stepped backward, and the Superior stepped out of yet another portal.

"I have recently figured out a way to access the Castle Oblivion, even though Marluxia has tried to fortify it against our intrusions," Xemnas said immediately as he stepped out of the dark mass, giving no chance for recovery or pause. "And our decision is thus: The primary objectives for the mission will be to first, bring Axel back here alive, and second to eliminate Marluxia. We would also like Namine back- she is too powerful to be left in traitorous hands, there is too much potential for interference with her under Marluxia's control, but she is a secondary objective. A tertiary objective will be to bring back numbers three, four, five, and six, or as many of them that have survived until this point."

"You're not sending all of us are you?" Xigbar interjected. Xemnas turned to look at him, rather disapprovingly.

"No. There is only one volunteer needed for this task," the Superior replied.

"I'll go," the voice was soft and barely contained the anger the owner was holding. Everyone turned to look at Roxas.

"No," Xemnas said firmly, eyes narrowing as he considered the grand total of five candidates in the room. "You are needed for another assignment, Roxas."

The youngest member puffed up angrily, but could do nothing more than sulk.

Xemnas turned to Larxene. "You have some issues to settle with number eleven, do you not?" His face twisted into an amused smirk. It wasn't a pleasant thing to see.

Larxene scoffed. "I do, but I just got back from assignment."

"Is that defying orders I hear? Perhaps you'd rather be sent on Heartless duty... or maybe... you do not wish to do these things because you're really in league with the traitor?" Xemnas replied, smirking cattily. He certainly did have a way with persuasion.

Demyx and Larxene both paled simultaneously, but she was over it first, quickly growling with anger. "Now why the hell would I want to be in league with that chauvinistic asshole?"

"Because you were involved... with each other. Women tend to become attached to those they sleep with, after all."

"He thinks he knows everything..." the lightning elemental grumbled under her breath. With an openly defiant glare, she voiced her response. "I, Xemnas, am currently... 'involved with' Demyx at the moment." Xigbar and Roxas looked at her. "What in the name of Twilight gives you the idea I'd ever want to stay attached to that fruity bastard?"

"A ruse," Xemnas answered her challenge. "Demyx is simple, easy to manipulate. Easy to hide behind definitely. A perfect mask for working behind the scenes. Now, shall you be branded as traitor along with Marluxia or will you prove your worth by destroying him?"

Larxene snarled viciously, eyes narrowing dangerously. "I'll go. When do you want me to leave?"

"Tomorrow," his tone held no patience for argument.

"Feh," she said, hopping off of her chair and stalking out of the room.

Xemnas laughed, a short, choppy, forced sound. "The rest of you are dismissed."

Roxas grumbled something, and disappeared. Xigbar finally burst forth with the laughter he had been suppressing, and followed Roxas. Demyx literally flew from his chair and out the door after the Nymph, Luxord's eyes trailing after him.

When it was finally down to the Gambler and Superior in the meeting room, the blond man spoke. "I hope this does not come back to snap you on the rear, Xemnas."

"What makes you think that?"

"You've insulted Demyx's intelligence, power... and his mask. You've summoned Larxene's rage, and insulted her as well in the process..."

Xemnas nodded. "I fear none of my subordinates. Neither of them could hope to defeat me." He disappeared with that.

Luxord chuckled. "Alone, no." Then he, too, left the room to remain cold, white, and lifeless.

---

The sound of Demyx's shoes slapping against the ground was the only sound in the halls of the Castle That Never Was, and he wished it wasn't. No other noise meant he wasn't anywhere near finding Larxene, and that worried him. Did he take a wrong turn somewhere? Perhaps she just went back to her room... but no, he'd checked there. If she was going to her room, he had the distinct feeling she'd have done it already.

He continued searching, wondering how she had gotten so far so quickly when it looked like she'd been set on simply stomping and walking out. Finally deciding she probably wasn't in the castle anymore, Demyx teleported himself out into the city below the castle. It was probably a long shot that she would be there, but there was still the chance.

Thunder rumbled overhead, a testament to the ever-stormy skies, though at the moment rain wasn't falling. He wandered through the streets, keeping his eyes and ears open for any sign of life beyond the roaming shadows of Heartless.

"This is hopeless..." he grumbled, deciding to take a break at the base of the tallest skyscraper in the city. He always wondered what the heck it was there for and the reason it had the random television screens on it, but no one seemed to be able to give him a straight answer. Now, he stood staring at the 'doors' of it, though why it, and most of the buildings in the area had doors was beyond him, most of the buildings had nothing for an interior- quite literally.

He plopped down hard on the second to last stair in front of the giant building and sighed. His eyes closed, and he simply listened to the crackling of the lightning and thunder, wondering when the rain would start again. The weather around the World That Never Was could never be predicted, not even by Demyx's natural senses as a water elementalist. He leaned back then, ignoring the hard edge of the stairs digging into his back. He wasn't worried about the abundant numbers of Heartless, either.

A weight landing on his chest caused him to tense, but only until he figured out what it was. His hand lightly wrapped around the leather-clad appendage. "How long were you planning on sulking?"

"I wasn't sulking, the Superior was being a dick," the owner of the limb he was grasping responded indignantly.

Demyx laughed and cracked open one eye. "He just says whatever he needs to when he wants to get his way. You should know this by now, you're not _that _new."

Larxene scoffed. "Whatever."

"Is there a specific reason for this?" the water elemental asked cocking his head towards the boot on his chest, his thumb lightly caressed her ankle, pressing hard enough that he knew she could feel it. She tensed.

"It's there for you to kiss," the blond bluffed, rolling her eyes to emphasize her sarcastic tone. Her eyebrows shot up, though, when she felt him start to bend towards it. A strange sound left her throat, somewhere between surprise and anger, and she jerked her leg back, tearing her foot from his grip. She whirled around quickly, seemingly out of anger, but it was to hide the slight coloration to her cheeks. "I swear to whatever gods are out there, Demyx, you are _so _whipped."

He laughed, and she heard him stand.

"Well gee, my girlfriend's a sadist. I wonder why," he countered with a smirk, laying hands on her shoulders gently, and pressing his lips against her neck briefly.

Larxene said nothing, Demyx had her beat on that point. Instead she snorted angrily and stepped forward, out of his grasp. "I'm heading back. If you're coming with me, you better hurry up." A portal opened a few feet in front of her. She started walking toward it, but was interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around her shoulders, and enough weight bowling into her to make her stumble.

"I was just kidding..." the water elemental said in a playful tone, grinning. "Lighten up."

"Sorry..." she muttered, and the musician believed her for once. "Just a little agitated at our commander."

"He was being a bit mean today," he noted, nodding. "Well, more so than usual."

"Do you think what the Superior said was true?"

"Whaddya mean?"

"You think I somehow manipulated you? I-... I can't tell if I'm doing it any more..."

Demyx spun her around, bringing their faces within inches of each other, even as he let his mask slip away to again reveal the Nobody underneath. A shudder ran through the woman's frame. "I'm not that stupid, Larxene. If I didn't want any of this to happen, it wouldn't have." He grinned then, eyes still empty, cold... heartless. "Call me masochist, but I continued to let you visit my room... that was of my own volition, and though lust is one of those things that takes control of you, even more so without a heart to mediate it, I still willingly followed you to bed when you gave me the choice."

Larxene clenched her fists as she listened to him, trying to keep them from shaking. Something in her was terrified, but she couldn't place exactly what it was. She swallowed, staring into the emotionless sea green of his eyes, into the pupils that were a black doorway to an endless abyss of darkness- and then she realized it. She'd never wanted to think about it before, but before her now was undeniable proof that Demyx was- no, _could be_ every bit as cruel, violent, and remorseless as her or the rest of the Organization. She'd only caught the faintest glimpse of it when they had fought.

Another thought struck her then- he'd been holding back. No matter what anyone else would say about that battle, he hadn't been fighting quite at a hundred percent. She grit her teeth against another tremble down her spine. She wouldn't let him scare her. She wouldn't let the monster lurking under the placid surface rattle her because god damn it, she had one too. And she wouldn't get another chance to think because the water elemental grabbed the ties of her coat and let out a laugh dark enough that even the Savage Nymph froze, before he roughly claimed her mouth with his.

Larxene remained tense until she could feel him relent a little, when she suddenly shoved forward, with every intent of reclaiming dominance. Now that the shock and whatever pale version of fear that had been were giving way to anger, she could fight back. Slowly, she felt him give more and more, realizing he was sliding back under his mask, until finally the kiss was broken and the goofy, friendly, grinning Demyx was left looking back at her.

"Hey, water boy?" She asked finally, glaring at him.

"Yeah?" he answered, still grinning and looking right on the verge of bursting out laughing.

"Don't drop your mask at that proximity ever again, alright? At least without warning," she ordered, crossing her arms to get the point across.

He did laugh then, wrapping his arms around her and clumsily walking around in a circle, pulling her with him. His mirth was almost staged like an apology. "Surely, my lady." He released her and continued grinning.

Larxene grumbled something under her breath, before seizing him by the back of the neck with one hand and dragging him through the disused portal.

---

A/N: This chapter was harder than it should have been to get out. But I know what the next chapter is going to be like! That should be out soon. Thank you to all who review, keep doing so, please. I heart reviews. I also less than three pictographic representations of verbal expressions.

Until then.


	8. Chapter 8

Demyx groaned and rolled over on his stomach, the clanging of something heavy and metallic falling on the hard floor of his room echoing throughout the large space, followed closely behind by some very choice words. Another clang, another stream of curses.

"Larxene," Demyx called groggily over his shoulder as he turned his face away from the pillow it had been buried in. "We need to work on your skills in subtlety..."

"Hey! Screw you," the blond woman called back, her head appearing in the doorframe to the bathroom, glaring angrily.

Demyx finally pushed himself up into a seated position and stretched, yawning. "You did that last night. I've got the cuts to prove it."

Her eyes narrowed even farther, a scowl warring with the glare. "You're a bastard, you know that?"

The water elemental yawned again. "Only when I'm woken up early." He swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stiffly stood up, pulling his boxers up in the process. Yes, Larxene had complained about him wearing anything to bed, but no he wasn't going to sleep naked- he'd be willing to bet the rest of the Organization would appreciate that if they needed to wake him up for an emergency.

With all the grace of a pregnant bovine, Demyx ambled his way into the bathroom, coming to a stop against the door jamb, and leaning on it heavily. "What are you doing, by the way?"

Larxene scoffed. "The towel rack broke. I was trying to fix it."

The water elemental blinked and looked to where she was pointing and staring at flatly. The towel rack had indeed been put back into place, but even the towel surreptitiously placed in the middle couldn't hide the slight bend to it.

Demyx sighed and laughed, slinging his arms heavily around Larxene's shoulders and putting enough weight behind the motion that it caused her to stumble, and curse again. He took note that she had taken his coat _again_, and wasn't wearing anything under it, at least from what he could see in the reflection of the mirror.

"Well, not only are you a bastard in the mornings, you're affectionate to boot," she noted as his lips grazed the side of her neck.

"I told you..." he murmured, causing her to shiver. "Only when people wake me up early."

"Well then I should do that more of-" Larxene began, but didn't get the chance to finish her thought as Demyx began to drag her backwards and towards the bathtub. "What... what are you doing?!"

"Shower... need to wake up..." was the grumbled reply.

"But I already took one and I have to go soon!"

Demyx looked very flatly in her direction, before unzipping the coat. "The Superior never said what time you have to get in there, just that you had to go today. So relax, you have a few hours of time to get ready."

The lightning elemental grumbled, but let him pull her. "Xemnas is not a patient man."

"Yeah well... if I'm going with you I want to be able to at least protect myself rather than get caught sleeping on my feet," he flicked the water on and adjusted it without once sticking his hand into the stream.

"What? You can't go... he never gave yo-"

"I have nothing to do until tomorrow, and it gets so boring in here if you're not around," another lever twist and the shower head itself began spitting out water.

"I never heard you complain about it before," Larxene teased, throwing an arm around Demyx's shoulders and leaning on him. He laughed and took the hand, bringing it up to his lips and kissing the knuckles.

"Things change when someone else is brought into your life," he replied simply, and she laughed.

"Such a sentimental dork," the blond woman backed up, slipping the coat from her shoulders and promptly sending it flying into the back of his head. Demyx yelped, trying to catch his coat before it ended up in the shower. It worked, partially. He managed to toss the coat out of the path of water just before the mat slipped out from under his foot and sent him tumbling into the bathtub.

Larxene laughed, pulling the doors to the shower back far enough for her to see in before propping her foot up on the lip of the tub and leaning over. "Awake yet?"

--

Things were going _terribly_. The main bargaining chip had been lost in an act of machismo that had somehow seriously irked the Keybearer, and from what Axel had been telling, Lexaeus had just been lost. Not that he minded that, but it didn't bode well, especially considering from what Axel had said Lexaeus died while Xaldin was fighting the Keyblade holder.

That meant there were two of them in the Castle. That had put Marluxia in a bad mood, which was exactly why he was pacing around the upper floor of the Castle, growling angry curses at nothing at all. Namine stood against one of the pillars in the room, arms wrapped tightly around herself as she stared at the floor.

"Naminé," Marluxia's voice was soft and gentle, as charismatic as it had _not _been but a few days prior. The young girl cringed and tried to back up into the pillar. Marluxia's face fell slightly into a scowl and he seized her jaw, pulling her face up to meet his, but her eyes averted.

He sighed and his grip became painfully tight. "Naminé, you will look at me when I speak to you." His voice barely contained a threat. She relented, looking up at him finally deciding it would be a better idea to go along with his wishes.

"That's a good girl," he cooed, lightly kissing her on the forehead and delighted in the shiver that racked her body. Naminé wasn't sure that she should be this petrified with her lack of a heart, but it didn't change the fact this man in front of her completely terrified her.

Marluxia laughed darkly and backed up, elegantly spinning on his heel before finding his usual pacing place in the middle of the room.

The seldom-heard sound of one of the Nobodies' portals opening filled the hall, and from it drifted a distinctly female voice.

"You know Marluxia, I was wrong about you," it said, and from the shadowy substance Larxene stepped.

The pink haired man smiled slowly and uttered a very simple response, "I see." He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, smiling. "And what was it you were wrong about?"

The woman laughed. "I wasn't too young for you, like I always thought."

He smiled at the lightning elemental then, his slow, cocky smile. "Of course not." He stepped forward, wrapping his arms about her shoulders. Suddenly he stopped, tensing, knees faltering and causing him to sag against her. A hand lightly trailed the side of his neck before seizing it roughly and Larxene shoved him backwards hard enough that he stumbled and fell, revealing a bright yellow and blue knife shoved into his chest under his ribs.

The lightning elemental laughed again, her sadist's laugh. "I wasn't too young for you Marluxia, I was too old. You're a psychotic bastard."

Grinning, Larxene wasted no time walking around Marluxia and up to Naminé, where she lightly hooked her finger under the younger girl's chin, forcing the blond head back and the pale, frightened face to look at her.

The older female grunted disapprovingly. "Dump me for lusting after _this_?" She scowled at Marluxia before a smirk slowly replaced the look, and she shoved Naminé into one of the pillars. The Assassin had since stood up, the knife missing from his chest.

Demyx appeared then, frowning at both of the former lovers, and slowly approaching the small form trembling on the cold, white ground. She shrank away from him as he approached, curling into a ball even as she held her shoulder.

The water elemental blinked in surprise, before slowly kneeling down in front of her, making himself as small as possible. "Are you alright Naminé?"

She whimpered in response, huddling even closer to herself.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said quietly, holding his hand out and ignoring the now rather heated argument that had started between Larxene and Marluxia.

Naminé shook her head and buried her face in her drawn up knees, wrapping her uninjured arm around them as she trembled and whimpered. It was then he noticed the probable cause for her fear. Thick pink lines cris-crossed her wrists, accentuated here and there by a healing scab. Demyx felt his jaw drop slightly. Her upper arms still bore bruises vaguely in the shape of fingers, and he didn't even want to think about why there were bruises on her shoulders and neck. His stomach did a slow flip at seeing a particularly nasty set of scratches that started on the back of her shoulders and disappeared under the white dress she was wearing.

He backed up suddenly, face contorted into a look of pure disgust, one that slowly infected with anger and caused him to stalk over to Larxene. He gently placed a hand on her back, leaning in close to her ear.

"He got her, Larxene..." he whispered just loud enough for her to hear. She stiffened only slightly, scoffing and glaring at Marluxia. Just as she was about to berate the Assassin for being a pedophile, Demyx spoke again, knowing his next words would strike a chord with her as a female. "He tied her down to do it."

The Nymph went perfectly rigid, lips pulling back into a feral grimace, accompanied by a vicious snarl. The air around her crackled and sparked, punctuating her next statement to the Assassin, one that was spoken in only the deadliest venom. "You sick fuck."

Demyx took a step back, a feeling of grim satisfaction spreading through him, and causing one side of his mouth to twitch up ever so slightly. Marluxia was about to get his.

"You couldn't have just smooth-talked your way, could you?" Larxene continued through her clenched jaw. "Is she somehow immune to those _smooth _words of yours that somehow managed to make Xaldin come with you?"

"That would be my fault," a voice wheezed from somewhere to the lightning elemental's right. She turned in time to see Axel appear, clenching his stomach tightly. "I kept telling her not to fall for it... by the time someone started to get desperate, I realized that what I kept telling her would just hurt her more when the inevitable happened..."

Marluxia snorted in a surprisingly dignified way before turning a disapproving look on Axel. "It _was _your fault as I'd suspected. No matter, from the looks of your state now, elimination shall be a simple process as soon as I deal with our beloved Savage Nymph and Melodious Nocturne."

"Guess again, Marluxia. Sora is heading up here as we speak, he should be bursting through that door for a final confrontation any moment now," Axel laughed, voice tight with pain.

The Assassin blinked, before his face twisted into an ugly scowl. "Well then, I'll have to eliminate the lot of you quickly."

"You really think you can pull that off, Marluxia?" Larxene snapped, hands unclenching just enough to allow knives to appear between her fingers.

"Easily," was the arrogant reply. He reached behind him and seemed to pull his scythe from nothing.

Demyx and Larxene exchanged a look, and she lowered herself into a sprinting position while the water elemental summoned his sitar, snatching it out of a short column of water.

The blade of the pink scythe began glowing, before Marluxia suddenly turned and sliced through the air, sending a wave of energy not after the two Nobodies closest to him, but rather right at Axel. It distracted Demyx, but not Larxene, who took the long follow-through of the attack and used it against him, throwing her knives right into his side, four of them sticking out like yellow and blue porcupine quills.

Marluxia snarled in pain and turned back, ignoring Axel for the time being (whom had just barely managed to get out of the way of the attack), to focus on trying to harm his ex girlfriend. While the two of them began settling their differences, Demyx jogged over to where Axel was leaning heavily against the wall.

"What happened?" the water elemental asked, leaning down in order to get a better look at Axel's face.

"Sora..." the red haired man gasped out. "Marluxia... tricked me into going out there after Xaldin died... made me fight the kid again. He's strong, Demyx. Really strong... he just keeps getting better." He leaned against the wall, rolling his head back as he looked over the other man's shoulder, when suddenly the Nocturne noticed a strange look crossed his face.

It was almost a second too late, both Larxene and Axel crying his name to get his attention. He twisted around, fortunately in the direction that just barely managed to get his sitar across him and prevent him from being cleaved in half by a particularly vicious scythe arc. Even as the blade buried itself into the neck of the sitar, Demyx's feet from his strange maneuver caught Marluxia's and sent them both into the ground.

There was a short moment of stunned silence out of all those involved, before Marluxia began growling and promising violent, painful death on the water elemental. In response, Demyx smirked through the strain of trying to keep the scythe from slicing into his chest.

"Hey Marluxia," he grunted out. "Now you can say you know the view Larxene gets every night..."

Realization slowly dawned on Marluxia, and in the very brief pause it took for the Assassin to process the Nocturne's words, Demyx had drawn his feet up, and delivered a violent kick right into Marluxia's stomach, shoving backwards at the same time while also summoning up a spray of water. The larger man went flying backwards, Larxene jumped on him before he hit the ground, planting her hands onto his chest and using the water as a medium, sent a brutal charge of electricity right into him. She launched off his stomach, driving him into the ground, and disappeared, reappearing a second later between Naminé and the two Nobodies near the wall.

Demyx slowly stood up, grinning darkly. He flicked his wrist and the sitar that had been laying on the ground dissolved into water. Another flick of his wrist and it was in his hands, completely repaired.

The doors took the opportunity to burst open then, and through it strode one short little kid, what may or may not have been a dog, and a duck. Larxene and Demyx quickly grabbed their hoods and threw them on before the kid even managed to get his bearings.

Sora's face fell upon seeing four of the Organization- or at least what looked like the Organization in one room. He wasn't looking forward to this fight if it was indeed the final battle. Keyblade drawn wearily, he stepped into the room.

Larxene exchanged a look with the water elemental, and they both nodded. Demyx grabbed Axel, helping him limp towards a summoned portal, while Larxene turned and headed for the still-cowering Naminé.

"Leave her," Axel said, his voice hoarse. It was more of a plea than a demand, but it stopped Larxene all the same. "Please."

A tense silence followed while the lightning elemental seemed to mull it over for a moment. Sora said nothing for once, simply watching them carefully for any signs of attack or ambush. Marluxia groaned and began standing up, causing Demyx to sudden pull Axel along faster, urging him to go faster, resuming fighting would just lead to someone dying.

Larxene took one more look at Marluxia, knowing he couldn't see her under her hood, and glad for it as she felt something akin to pity looking at him. "It's a pity I won't see you on the other side, Marluxia."

"Oh you will," he groaned, slowly rising.

She laughed, turning around. "Keep telling yourself that. Maybe it'll actually happen." Then she too, disappeared through the portal, the black mass closing behind her.

Marluxia turned to face the Keybearer, who was now looking a lot more confident and bearing down on him, weapon drawn. He sighed, and laughed. "So this is how I end... not with a bang..."

---

A/N: HI GAIZ LOL. No seriously, school is kicking me around like the red headed stepchild and giving me Not As Much Time To Write As I'd Like. Which means my production has slowed a tiny bit. Beyond that, though, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Read and review and all that jazz still.

There's a couple things I'd like to say on a parting note: I had no idea Ryan O'Donohue is actually 22. How funny I aged Demyx the same.

Our little Kovu's all grown up and still sounds like he has a sinus infection! -_awww_-

Also, if there's a Mr/Miss/Ms Kill All Flamers in the audience, may I direct you to my author page and to a story called "Perfection" I wrote the other day. I was on _your _author page the other day and noticed you had a challenge up for a Demyx/Aerith. "Perfection" isn't a complete story, but I thought I'd point it out to you.

ANYWAYS! Keep reviewing, it keeps me smiling. I'll see you all around in a few days.


	9. Chapter 9

An uneasy silence fell in the meeting room in the wake of Axel's revelation of the goings-ons at Castle Oblivion. He had given the lot of them the 'abbreviated' version of the events, he would tell Xemnas and perhaps Saix later the full version. None of the remaining Organization members moved for a long moment.

"That's _disgusting_, I'm sorry you had to go through that," Roxas said finally. His face was scrunched up and contemplative.

"I'm not the one to feel sorry for," Axel laughed.

"Speaking of which, where _is _Naminé?" Xemnas asked, looking around the room, first at Axel, then at Larxene.

"She disappeared... I think she might have made her escape while we were all busy with Marluxia," Axel answered quickly. Xemnas looked skeptical, turning to look back at Larxene for confirmation. She nodded without pause.

"I didn't see her at all when I was there. By now, she must be with the Keybearer," was the simple reply.

"Speaking of which, what sort of interactions did the two of you have with him?" Xemnas inquired.

"I fought him... twice I believe. And spoke to him on a few other occasions," Axel answered.

"You met Sora?" Roxas interrupted, sitting eagerly on the edge of his chair, eyes glimmering.

"Yeah, I did."

"W... what was he like?"

All eyes suddenly fell on the youngest member of the Organization.

"He was... well..."

"That is enough, Axel. Speak to him no more of this," Xemnas interrupted, so quickly it aroused suspicions.

"Yes, sir."

"One final question, would you happen to know what Sora's plans were after Oblivion, or were you able to glean any information regarding places he would be now?"

Axel seemed to ponder that for a moment, while the Organization watched on in interest.

"No..." he said finally. "No, he said nothing that I could recall from my conversations, but I left before the actual showdown started. Though Larxene I believe was the last one to leave."

Xemnas' eyebrow quirked just the slightest bit. "Last one? I knew you were aided in walking into my room but..." he looked at Demyx. "There was more than the two of you to escape the Castle? I have seen neither hide nor hair of my poor comrades that were living in the basement, so your words that... Riku... Had taken care of them must be true but..."

The room suddenly went tense, and for a moment no one would say anything. Finally, Demyx spoke up, his voice sounding small even to him.

"I sorta... tagged along?"

"Why?" Xemnas asked, crossing his arms.

"I didn't have anything else to do, so I went..." the water elemental explained carefully, readying himself in case he needed to do something like bolt.

Xemnas seemed to ponder that response for a moment, thinking of a way to word it more simply to get a better response.

"Relax, there was no danger," Axel said suddenly, interrupting the coming storm. "You should've seen how fast the two of them put Marluxia down. The way their elements counteracted but worked together knocked him out of commission quickly. All that was left to do was leave him up to the mercy of the Keybearer... and Sora had run out of mercy by then."

The Superior seemed to contemplate over that for a minute, then nodded. "Very well. Axel, if you will come with me to give a full, detailed report. The rest of you may be dismissed."

Roxas was the first one out, fleeing quickly for reasons and places unknown, the others slowly and curiously following him soon after, though they all broke off for their various tasks.

Demyx sighed as he stepped out, grunting slightly at a sudden weight around his shoulders.

"Wonder what's with the kid..." Larxene's voice sounded in his ear. Her weight was forcing him to bend backwards at an uncomfortable angle or risk choking himself.

"If you'd let me walk normally, I might be of some help," he grunted.

"Fine, but..." rather than releasing him, she jumped up on his back, nearly knocking him on his face. "You're carrying me the rest of the way."

"As long as I don't have to get a back cramp before a mission, I'll be happy to," Demyx replied, grabbing her legs and adjusting her weight on his back so he could walk with relative ease.

"So where they got you going?" Larxene asked, almost boredly.

"Some place in the Back O' Beyond... I dunno. It was forested last I checked," he replied, trying to shrug, but finding some difficulty with his shoulders holding so much weight.

"That explains a lot of places," the lightning elemental said dryly.

"I never really bothered to read up on it, or even the mission. I think it said something about some evil bastard who's piqued Xemnas' interest... wants to see what kind of Heartless and Nobody he'll spawn. I dunno, the same as usual. They tell me to go do this mission, that it'll take forever, I end up spending two days just wandering around and fifteen minutes finishing it," Demyx laughed.

"Wow, I wish they would give me something that easy," Larxene mumbled.

"Aww, but then who would be our Heartless Warder?" came the teasing reply. It was promptly followed by a swift punch to the shoulder.

"It's not funny having to do that, you know."

"I know. They usually end up doing that to younger members... except Roxas, but he's the Superior's heart collecting machine."

"_Pet _heart collecting machine," the Nymph spat angrily.

"Whichever. It's not like we can change that. Nothing short of Roxas just up and abandoning us will alter Xemnas' opinion... and even then he'd probably send us all out on some sort of desperate manhunt," Demyx replied.

They finally arrived at the room, and Larxene jumped off Demyx's back, nearly shoving him into an instrument rack in the process.

"Sorry," she laughed, scratching the back of her head. Demyx took a deep breath to steady himself, then stood upright and shrugged.

With a grin thrown over his shoulder, the water elemental walked over to where two pieces of paper lay on his bed. He picked them both up, looking them over, before holding out what looked like a picture towards Larxene. She snatched it from his hand and looked it over.

"Oh good. This isn't the same place I got sent to," she sighed, rolling her eyes and giving him the picture back.

"It was that bad?" He raised an eyebrow, looking over the notecard.

"_That bad?_ It was _worse... _there was this stupid little kid in a red fox suit that kept following me around, asking how it was I could make 'the rumbly light'!" the lightning elemental snarled angrily in response, laying a hand over her face. "He would _not _leave me alone until I _showed _him how I could make it."

"You fried him, I assume?" Demyx asked, shaking his head and laughing softly.

"Yep. It shut him up _really _fast. Of course, then I took his heart and watched him turn into the most peculiar Crawler," she shrugged. Demyx raised an eyebrow. "He was still wearing that stupid little fox suit, even as a Nobody. Can't remember what I sent it off to, though. Probably to jump off a cliff or something."

"You don't like kids, do you?" the water elemental asked, suppressing another laugh.

Larxene shrugged in response. "I was never a motherly sort of girl."

"I'll keep that in mind when we get our hearts back and you drag me home with you," Demyx teased. "Besides, I think you'd corrupt the poor thing beyond recognition." He was rewarded with a deadly glare.

He tucked the note card and picture in an interior pocket of his coat, and summoned a portal. A grin alighted his features. "Well, I must be off now. I have a date with a large, burly man."

Larxene laughed and hugged him in response, pushing her fingers into his hair to hold his head in place while she brought her lips close to his ear. "Be careful out there. If you die, I'm going to kick your ass. And then I'm going to fish your pathetic hide out of the darkness and kick your ass again." She moved slightly so her lips could meet his, and they did, with a strange sort of muted desperation.

When it was over, she stepped back, eyes still closed, sighing quietly. Demyx smiled gently and stepped forward, lightly cupping her face with both hands, pressing his forehead to hers. She seemed surprised as he felt her stiffen, but she didn't move. "I'm not going _anywhere_ without you, Larxene." He pressed lips to hers once more, briefly, gently, and this time her response was without any negative feelings.

With that, he released her and quietly stepped through the portal. As soon as it had closed, Larxene let out a shaky sigh, her calm soon turning into a hollow rage. She slapped her right hand over the left side of her chest, trying to direct a glare at the spot her heart should have been. "I hate you, you know that? Your disappearing leads me to the one guy in the entire universe that's not a raging moron... but..." she sighed again, and began walking toward the door, hand dropping limply to her side. "I can't even be in love with him."

-

The portal led to a rather interesting place- in the distance, what looked like a giant wood wall blocked the view of some sort of settlement from which smoke curled from chimneys of log cabins. There were people flitting to and fro like ants, busy with something or another.

The sounds of footsteps approaching caused the water elemental to turn around, just in time to get slapped in the chest by a large, slingshooting branch. It knocked him flat on his back, and he opened his eyes enough to barely catch a glimpse of some dark-skinned woman wearing a strange, tan-colored dressing running through the woods like a graceful deer. He blinked, her voice catching his ears. She was singing about talking to trees and rocks and animals... and they responding. Of course, he thought for a moment it was his ears tricking him, but he wouldn't get the chance to catch more of her voice as the heavy, trudging footsteps of a man wearing thick boots drowned out the singing. The noise came from a strange blond man, who looked very out of place in the forest.

The stranger didn't even so much as spare a glimpse at Demyx, instead he seemed quite transfixed on the fleeing figure of the woman through the trees. That was fine, the guy could have a psychopathic girlfriend. "Better him... than me..." the water element mumbled under his breath, then chuckled at how ridiculous that sounded.

He stood up slowly, using the tree branch that had knocked him flat as leverage, before leaning against the base of it and pulling out the little mission note card, he never had the chance to really read it over before. As he expected, it was another 'get this person and make a Nobody out of them', no frills attached, though it was worded differently than it usually was.

He tucked the card back into its pocket, thinking over the mission even as he followed the trail opposite of the two crazy lovebirds, heading towards the settlement. The snapping of a twig was the only indication he wasn't alone, and suddenly several loincloth wearing men were surrounding him, spears pointed at him. The one with the most clothes- probably the leader, instructed one of the others, a youngster, in a strange, foreign language.

Demyx sighed, letting himself go limp. At least until he felt the cold tip of a spear press under his chin and against his adam's apple. Willing himself not to swallow, he looked up into the cold, dark eyes of the supposed leader.

"You... with... black demons?" the man asked in an incredibly thick accent. Demyx raised an eyebrow trying to figure it out, though he had an idea.

"Black demons? What black demons?" he asked.

"Thieves!" the man grunted. "Steal..." He thumped his chest over his heart.

_Oh, the Heartless. _"Black demon thieves? I'm not sure what you're talking about... I'm not with them, though. I'm human..."he lied... half-lied. The scantily clad male looked confused. "_Human..." _

"I speak not White Man. We get one... does," the strange, dark-skinned man said. Demyx sighed softly, but maintained his posture. He could feel another spear digging into each arm and one on the small of his back.

They kept him there like that for what seemed like several hours, until the youngster returned with an older, even more dressed man.

"They say you are with Black Demons," the man said. His accent was still thick, but at least he got most of the sentence right.

"What makes you think that?" Demyx responded, trying to sound surprised.

"You dress all in black and sulk around woods... much suspicion."

He tried to think of an answer that wouldn't end with him getting stabbed. "I'm sorry I caused you worry. I... am... I am a simple villager... my... son died. I am in mourning. We wear all black when we... grieve." God that lie sounded horrible, even to him. But the black haired man nodded and the warriors stepped back slightly.

"White men made path. You not use, why?"

"I... got lost. I was looking for the path... so many trees," Demyx replied with a laugh. "If you could kindly show me the path, I'll be on my way back to the settlement."

The man nodded and pointed somewhere to his left. "Path there. We watch, make sure you go into settlement. Be cautious."

_Great... _Demyx thought. _They're going to make sure I belong there. _He didn't know what kind of people lived in the encampment, or even if they'd just throw him right out the minute he set foot in it. This made being watched a dangerous affair.

The warriors made a path for him, moving so it was open only in the direction of the path. Demyx stepped forward, smiling weakly at the leader. The man gave him a scowl in response. He needed to lose his watchers, and soon. He began humming softly as he walked, summoning water up beneath the feet of the warriors. At least the four that had followed him directly- the other two had split off and were watching from somewhere in the bushes. At the same time, he reached out and grabbed the attention of several of his Dancer Nobodies, readying them to be called to him.

"You know," he said, his voice drained of its usual mirth. "You were right to be suspicious, though. Because I'm not with the Black Devils..." He spun around quickly, sweeping his arm across and spraying the men behind him into the air with a burst of water. As the two in the bushes surrounding him sprang forward, he snapped his fingers and his Dancers materialized next to him. His sea green eyes were empty, the sinister looking grin that was his blank Nobody face crept across his lips. "I'm with the White ones."

The two men stopped in their tracks at the sight of the strange, twitching, flexible creatures. Suddenly the writhing creatures descended upon the men, and one screamed. The other four, recovered from their flight quickly tried to scramble together an attack on him, but found themselves beset by another handful of the lesser Nobodies. Screams permeated the air, followed by sickening crunching noises.

Suddenly, another sound rang through the air, dull and fuzzy, but loud enough to easily grab attention from miles around. An alarm. Demyx scoffed, turning to face the encampment, which was now busier than ever, a steady stream of people flowing out of the gates. A gloved hand shot out to his side, and the Dancers stopped their attacks on the strangely tanned people. With a single word, they disappeared.

A portal opened behind the water elemental and he melted back into it, disappearing before anyone from the camp could note his presence. He appeared on a tree branch opposite the large hill he had been standing on previously, arm up and leaning against the trunk while his other hand was on his hip, fingers tapping out the melody singing through his mind. Suddenly, all motion ceased and his grin seemed to get bigger, something malignant flashing in the empty depths of his eyes.

Most of the people had left the camp, and from what he knew, the man whose Heartless he was supposed to attain was a leader there. A good leader wouldn't leave to go fight, not like this. With most people gone, that left the man wide open for attack.

His slight blunder might have just made his mission easier.

With a short laugh Demyx disappeared once more.

-

A/N: _THIS_ is only... what... six-seven days overdue? Apologies. School load went up, but now it's back down again. Yes it is going slightly AU... it might get a touch more AU as the story goes on, but I'm going to keep as close to canon as I can.

I _will _get the next chapter out within three days on pain of death. You may spam my email with hate **_if I am late_** until I do it- you have my permission on this.

Two cookies are going to be awarded per person- one for each of the Disney movies I referenced in here. One is obvious, the other might not be. But you only get it if you get the references right.

Reviewers! I must say, I truly love you all. Keep reviewing. Others who haven't yet- do so. I love hearing what you think. Even if it's 'lolusuck'. It gives me something to laugh at.


	10. Chapter 10

As predicted, the entire encampment seemed to have disappeared, and already screams and gunshots echoed through the area, Demyx would have to work quickly. He took stock of the area- most of the cabins he'd seen earlier were in truth only half-finished, it seemed the majority of the populace still lived in tents. Well, that could make things easier to get in and out of quickly.

The man he was after... some guy named Radcliffe, was supposed to be the governor of the area. With that in mind, Demyx strode to the most elegant looking tent, conveniently set right in the middle of the encampment. Without so much as a sound, he threw the flap open and peered inside. It didn't seem anyone was there, until he took stock of some poor, scrawny fellow cowering beneath a table.

Disappointed, the water elemental 'humph'ed, but the noise grabbed the man's attention and he screeched something awful.

"A SAVAGE! THERE'S A SAVAGE IN HERE!"

Demyx winced, shutting one eye against the noise. The man continued to scream, but just as the Nobody was about to go in the tent and do something, the heavy sound of boots slapping through mud sounded.

"Get away from my things, you monster!" a voice bellowed. The Nocturne barely had time to turn around and take stock of what was barreling at him when something impacted with the left side of his chest, knocking him backwards a step. If he'd had a heart, Demyx would be dead. As it was, he just started laughing, taking the large man by surprise.

"Monster? You don't know anything about monsters," he stated, righting himself and dusting his coat off. The grin was gone from his lips, but the empty hollowness of his eyes remained.

"What- what kind of trickery is this _savage_? And how do you speak English?" the man demanded, sputtering.

"I don't even know what a savage is, or how you're referring to them," Demyx answered, stepping towards the man. The large man dropped the gun and gave ground.

"Your hair! Looks just like theirs!" the accusation was shaky.

The Nobody's eyes rolled up, an attempt to look at the stray strands of hair that usually brushed his forehead. He reached up and grabbed one, tugging at it lightly. It was then everything fell into place: a couple of the barely clothed men with spears that had ambushed him earlier had parts of their hair shaved just short enough to stick up, as well. They must have been the 'savages'.

Demyx looked back at his attacker and grinned, deeply unsettling the man. "So it does."

"Then..." Radcliffe gasped. "You must be here to... to eat my heart like those little black creatures!"

Another laugh from the Nocturne, and he shrugged. "Well, not like the Heartless- I don't actually eat hearts. You see, Mr. Governor, I'm a Nobody."

"Well you must certainly be as I've never seen or heard of you before," Radcliffe replied, snorting indignantly. His wits and pride were starting to return.

"You don't understand, Mr. Governor," Demyx began, again walking towards his quarry. Radcliffe gave ground, but this time shouts were sounding from on the hill. Someone had noticed what was happening in the camp. "Nobodies don't eat hearts. The little black Heartless creatures don't really either. They steal them from you, using the darkness in your heart to spawn more of them." Radcliffe hit a tent and stumbled, falling quite embarrassingly on his rear. "Nobodies are different. We're the bodies and minds left over when the heart leaves. Do you understand yet? That's why hitting me in the chest didn't kill me. I don't have a heart to pierce. You, however, do. And since you have one to pierce..." a snap of his fingers, and several Heartless appeared around Demyx. "You also have one to steal. Come join us, Mr. Governor." The grin reappeared as he stared down his nose at the completely terrified man, cold, sea-green eyes flashing with something that could only be called wicked. "It's _ever _so much fun. Without a heart and without emotions you can't feel guilty if you make someone have... an _accident._"

The Heartless descended upon Radcliffe in an angry black swarm. The smile still playing across his face, Demyx called his Dancers back and set them to work against the small crowd of men that had come back to the camp. More gunshots and screams sounded, this time much closer, and the water elementalist smirked, rolling his head back a little bit to let himself enjoy the macabre symphony sounding all around him.

A sharp pain at his ankle grabbed Demyx's attention, and he looked down to see a tiny dog, its mouth firmly wrapped around his appendage. He frowned and kicked his foot, trying to shoo it. It snarled and held on. Finally, he reached down and plucked the silly creature from his leg, bringing it up to face level and looking blankly at it. The dog whined, then growled, snapping at his face. The Nocturne summoned as much anger from the swirling dark depths as he could, twisting it onto his face through his preferred grin. The look seemed to work, the dog going instantly rigid, eyes rolling up into its head.

Demyx tossed the nuisance away accordingly, before returning to watch his intended victim.

Radcliffe's heart was barely able to shine through a writhing, bulging black mass that seemed to have attached to it. It seethed, twitching and making strange noises. This was going to be a relatively powerful heartless, a good thing meaning his Nobody would also be powerful. Speaking of Nobody... Demyx looked down to watch the human body lying on the ground beneath him twist and bend, sculpting itself into its final form. Hair became spiked, skin turned the usual shade of grayish white the lesser Nobodies usually exhibited. A pity his heart was strong enough to let him keep a human form. This all amused Demyx, the process of turning into the Heartless/Nobody combination was always so grotesque and very amusing.

When it was finally all over, two strange creatures emerged. The Nobody was tall, a good foot more so than the man it had once been, but proportioned near the same. A large, round chest that narrowed down into a tiny pair of legs. The arms were bulky and long, fingertips caressing the ground with every twitching motion it made. There were other peculiarities. The waist of the creature was incredibly thin, looking much like only a few layers of flesh wrapped around the spine. The man's once long black hair was now more of an incredibly spiky mane- though the ridiculous pink bows Radcliffe once wore still remained. It has no facial features whatsoever, with an oblong, egg-shaped head. The symbol of the Nobodies adorned both its shoulders.

The Heartless was similar in shape, though it was bent over so it had to walk on all fours. It was also black in color, lacking the symbol of the Heartless anywhere on it due to its being pure bred, and part of the mane had twisted back from its head to form a pair of sinister, curved horns. The tips of the horns glowed red and were burning.

"Aww..." Demyx sighed. "A fire element. Why can they never be water?" He opened a portal behind himself and motioned for the Nobody to follow- the Heartless turned and bounded off towards the fighting to harvest some more hearts, and he let it go. His orders were to take the Nobody, not the Heartless. The Nobody fluttered ahead of Demyx and into the portal in the strange way the lesser Nobodies had of flying- the strange undulating motion they used as though they were swimming through the air. A moment later, all that was left in the camp was one very frightened, very confused personal attendant.

-

The portal led to just outside Xemnas' 'office' as it were. It was more like a room he usually sat in and plotted with Saix and occasionally the others of the original six members. It was also the room they went when missions were complete.

Demyx knocked on the door, he'd learned _that _lesson a while ago. A moment of silence passed before the Superior's voice sounded calmly, informing him he could come in. Without a word, the water elemental stepped into the room, the Nobody tailing at his heels.

"That was certainly quick," Xemnas said, looking from Demyx to the lesser Nobody looming behind him.

"A blunder which worked in my favor," the Nocturne replied simply. The Superior met his eyes, but only for a scant second before the orange orbs slid fluidly away- as though the eye contact itself was accidental. Demyx smirked. People only usually did that when they were afraid.

"Well, then let's have that Nobody... and you may take the rest of the day off," Xemnas stated, watching the creature behind the water elemental with more interest.

Demyx bowed slightly before turning and leaving through a portal, showing up soon after near the doors to their various rooms. It was then his vision swam and he stumbled into the wall, the impact jarring the left side of him and causing him to bite his lip against the pain.

A voice materialized through the ringing in his ears, though at first he couldn't tell what it was saying. Eyes slowly opened, and he caught a glimpse of an indistinguishable blob of green and red before his mind cleared somewhat and his eyes focused on the quite distinct face of Axel.

"Dem! Hey!" the words now made sense. "You alright? Anyone left in there?" Axel waved his hand in front of Demyx's face, and the water elemental slapped it out of the way angrily.

"I'm fine..." he grunted, trying to regain his posture.

"... so you collapse into walls all the time? Am I imagining it, or is there a gaping wound over your heart void?" Axel replied leaning down to get a better look. Demyx tried to back up, but his mind was still foggy, reactions still slowed. Before he knew it, Axel's hand was on the zipper to his coat.

"W-wait! Don't!" the water elemental pleaded, closing his eyes against the constriction in his chest. He tried to pry Axel's hand off, but his own hands were shaking and weak.

"Don't what? I just want to see how bad this looks and if you should get some help for it," the redhead replied, knocking Demyx's hand away and opening the front of the coat.

Not many things surprised Axel, he could think of four, maybe five instances where he'd been truly surprised. What he saw now counted as one of those times.

"Dear... Christ... alright, who convinced you it would be a good idea to go body surfing in a lot full of broken glass?" he asked, crossing his arms and trying to look completely serious and not let his jaw fall open.

"That's not what it is and _you know it_," Demyx hissed in response, leaning more heavily against the wall.

"What I really want to know..." Axel began as he pulled the coat open far enough to survey the entirety of what he had recently dubbed 'the battlefield'. "Is why you let her do all of this."

"She likes it and I have the pain tolerance of a cow?" the water elemental offered.

"Oh really?" the redhead challenged, jabbing his finger into the flesh just above the bullet hole. Demyx yelled and his knees went weak as the burning pain shot through his whole body.

"I hate you..." was the Nocturne's growled response through labored breathing after the pain had subsided. Axel smirked; his point had been proven.

"I see someone already has a claim over your heart when you get it back," the taller man teased, jerking his head at the very obvious 'XII' shaped scar scrawled across the upper left side of Demyx's chest. The bullet hole had managed to wedge itself between the 'X' and the first 'I'. "That scar's not going to go away."

"I know! That's why it's there," Demyx shot back, shoving himself off the wall and slowly making his way towards his room.

"Someone gets cranky when they're injured and tired..." Axel teased again. "And now you get to be lonely as your _mistress_ is out being Heartless Population Control again."

"You really are a snarky bastard, you know that?"

"And you're a pompous asshole."

"At least I'm getting laid," the Nocturne replied, but found his legs giving out again as another wave of pain surged through him, though rather than hitting the ground, Axel caught him.

"Alright, you win this one," the redhead laughed, pulling Demyx's arm around his shoulders and helping him walk. "Jeez you're heavy..."

"I'm not heavy, you're just a twig," Demyx said with a similar laugh.

"Well excuse me for not having a swimmer's build like _some _people."

"You could if you actually... you know... _swam_."

"No way. Aquaphobia, my friend. Couldn't convince me to go within ten feet of water deeper than my knees."

Demyx laughed again, he'd gone back to how he usually was much to Axel's relief. "Well then, I'm gonna have to drag you to Atlantica sometime. Since phobias sort of require a _heart_ to generate the fear that makes it so hard to do something."

"You do that, and I'll reopen that bullet wound," Axel threatened as they stepped into Demyx's room, and traveled about halfway to the bed before Axel ducked under Demyx's arm and backed up. "Well, this is where the Help Express lets off. If you can't make it to your own bed, you're a hopeless case. If this hole in your back is any indication, the bullet's gone all the way through. You should be fine."

"Since when are you the doctor, Axel?" Demyx asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Since Zexion ate it against Sora's friend," Axel sighed, turning for the door. He seemed to droop. "If you need anything... get it yourself. I need to go check on Roxas."

"There's something bothering you?"

"Nothing much. Roxas has been... uneasy lately since news of us meeting his... yeah. I think... nevermind," the Flurry said, waving his hand in the air and leaving before Demyx could ask what it was.

Demyx sighed and trudged to his bed, tossing his coat to the side before collapsing on the covers. Axel was right; he was tired, injured, and cranky, and wouldn't his luck have it that absolutely no position was very comfortable to fall asleep in. This would be a long night.

-

Why did she always get sent to where it was raining?

Once again, Larxene found herself in some random world that was dumping rain on everyone and everything, and no one was around. Well, no one except the Heartless, but even they were smart enough to have sought shelter by now. Her hair had lost its shape and instead was plastered to her skull and dripping down her neck and shoulders. She'd put her hood up after the fight was over- a Heartless had knocked it off- but her hair was still soaking and uncomfortable.

She had to wonder for a moment as to just _why _there was no one here- the place was like a tourist trap set inside a tourist trap. She'd seen these strange shops here, too, the exact same franchise and everything _every damn block_. Not to mention every building here was somehow tied into a hotel.

The rain stopped, as though someone had simply willed it away, and Larxene pulled her hood down. Well, there was one thing she couldn't exactly complain about; the rain was at least warm. The problem was that it started and stopped raining for absolutely no reason and for no determined amount of time, and it didn't even need clouds in the sky to do it, either. This place must've been a nightmare for weathermen, even more so than The World That Never Was.

She took a sharp turn and walked down another avenue, and yes, there was another of those stupid franchise stores there, too. The ocean was this way, she could tell by the neat line of palm trees peeking appearing at the end of the street above a short building that formerly belonged to beach patrol.

No, this wasn't the way she probably should have gone. She wasn't looking for the beach, she was supposed to be looking for some little kid and offing as many Heartless as she could. And yes, she had made up the second part of the objective. This was going to be _hopeless_. This place was some sort of awful maze of a city, she wonder how it had ever become a tourist trap at all. You couldn't even find your way around to get anywhere.

She reached the end of the block, and a shadow jumped out at her, but before it could even form into any sort of Heartless, she had already punted it into the wall of the Beach Patrol building, and watched in satisfaction as it dissolved into darkness upon impact.

Of course, the ever-predictable weather decided now would be the perfect time to start dumping rain again, and within a few seconds, Larxene's hair was once more completely and utterly soaked. She grumbled and continued trekking towards the ocean, wondering why the hell weather hated her so much. Here she was, soaked by warm rain, standing in front of the ocean, on some half-destroyed, abandoned world.

Then something skittered in front of her. She looked to its retreating form, and found something akin to a blue dog. Her eyebrows furrowed, when something ran into her from behind, knocking her into the sand with a "Watch out old lady!"

Larxene felt her hackles rise, and she snarled something, about ready to chase down that stupid kid and her stupid dog, when she noticed the two of them were fleeing into the city, and some sort of strange alarm was going off.

Somehow, her sixth sense instructed her to look towards the ocean, and she did, only to find the ocean seemed to be draining. Of course, then she noticed the growing mass way out in the distance.

The rain stopped again, and Larxene groaned. The siren was a tsunami warning. The ocean wasn't draining, it was rising.

"I hate this place..."

-

A/N: I completed this chapter while chewing on the face of a rat. :watches people flee:

For those of you left over, that last part was really fun to write. I'm not going to make you guess, though you probably already have. Yes, Larxene is in Hawaii. If you've ever been to Honolulu, then you'd know what I said about those stupid ABC Stores and hotels is entirely true, as is the fact it randomly starts raining. I love Hawaii dearly, but jeez it's a weird place.

I think I kept Demyx in bastardy Nobody mode for too long talking with Axel... but I'm unrepentant.

Anyway, I told you I'd get it out soon! XD

And... like everyone guessed right for the guess thing, so :hands out cookies: I'll have to make it harder next time. xp

Keep reviewing my lovely people of loving... love.

By the way, the rat in my mouth is rubber.


	11. Chapter 11

There was Pandemonium in the Castle That Never Was, and naturally, Demyx was sleeping right through it. Not that he didn't exactly deserve it, he was still injured, and it had only been what amounted to a day and a half he'd had to heal. While Nobodies did heal quickly, this wound was taking a bit longer than it normally would have.

Axel came running into the room, grabbing the Nocturne roughly and shaking him. No effect. He tried again, this time shaking harder and yelled Demyx's name. Finally, he got a response as the blonde head slowly turned to the side from where it had been buried in the pillow, and a sea colored eye slowly opened to shoot Axel an annoyed look.

"We've got a problem, Nocturne! Come on! Get up! You've gotta go get Larxene and then ship out to Twilight Town!" the red haired man said. He reached down and grabbed Demyx's arm, pulling him towards the edge of the bed. Upon hearing Larxene's name, Demyx stopped resisting and actually started going along with it. "Alright, here's the coat, there's your shoes, you gotta go now!"

"Wha... what in the world is going on?" the water elemental finally managed to ask, still very groggy.

"Roxas ran away," the redhead replied matter-of-factly. There was a strange glimmer in his eyes that Demyx would've thought was strange if he'd been more awake. "And now the Superior is about ready to turn us all into Dusks if we don't get out and start looking."

Demyx trudged towards the bathroom, ignoring the fact Axel was trying to get him to get up and leave _now_.

"Fine... I'll leave the Superior's note on your bed for when you get done," Axel grumbled, throwing a note card on the bed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go track down Luxord and Xigbar."

Demyx ignored him, closing the door to the bathroom behind him.

"... Dear Twilight he's a bastard in the morning... I wonder how she puts up with it," the pyro muttered, and with that, disappeared.

Several minutes and a nice hot shower later, Demyx reemerged, wearing naught but a towel tied about his waist and looking much more awake than he had previously. With a sigh, he gingerly picked up the note card with his left hand and looked it over. He rolled his eyes at the words.

"'We're in dire straights at this hour, Roxas has left. Search out and reclaim our lost number thirteen using any means necessary. Do not fail me,'" the water elemental read flatly, before laughing. "He must be having kittens up there for such a non-wordy mission objective as this." He looked over the rest of the note. "'Number nine, go search out number twelve from the world whose description is attached, then proceed to Twilight Town to search. Leave no stone unturned on pain of death.'" A sigh. "She's not gonna be happy about being interrupted from killing things to go on a wild goose chase..."

He dressed himself before opening a portal to whatever world it was Larxene was at, stepping through with a yawn.

Of course, stepping out of the portal and into knee-deep water was something he hadn't expected upon entering this world, especially considering he was obviously standing in the middle of a street. He took stock of his surroundings; tall buildings next to other tall buildings, stores built mostly into their ground floors, narrow streets, and...

... It had just started raining. Not a cloud in sight. It was dumping water from absolutely nowhere.

Sighing and shaking his head Demyx began making his way towards where he could hear the ocean. If there was ocean, there would probably be a pretty clear expanse with which to begin searching, of course that was provided the ocean hadn't completely swallowed it.

The rain stopped, causing the Nocturne to look up into the sky quizzically. Nope, not a cloud. As his gaze descended once more, a flash of black against a white building caught his attention. A slight smile played across his lips as he opened a portal, hoping it wasn't a random Heartless he had spotted.

The building was one of the tallest in the city, and the roof's gravel crunched under Demyx's boots as he stepped out of the dark mass, releasing a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding upon discovery that his hunch was right. Without a word, he approached the figure sitting on the edge of the building.

"There better be good reason for this interruption..." Larxene stated simply, bending over backwards rather than turning around to see whoever it was behind her. She smirked. "... Lover boy."

Demyx laughed, and approached her, settling down on the graveled rooftop and leaning on the upraised lip of the building. "How are you enjoying this tropical-"

"Nightmare?" She interrupted, then shrugged. "This place makes the World That Never Was seem pleasant... at least from my standpoint. It's too wet... and the whole place feels like something is trying to kill it."

"I thought the Heartless lost that ability when the original doors to Kingdom Hearts were sealed?" he asked.

Larxene shrugged again, before pointing up to some red figure streaking through the sky. "Tell _that _to whatever the hell is dropping meteors on this place."

Demyx watched in fascination as the meteor disappeared just over the horizon. The building shook with the impact of the meteor into the ocean.

"Now all we have to do is wait for another tidal wave to come along and..." she shook her head. "It's been pretty regular, like once every seven hours or so. The city's starting to flood."

"I noticed," Demyx replied flatly. He was glad leather didn't readily absorb water and that his boots were water tight. "What do you think is doing it?"

"No idea. I would say it's some randomly powerful Heartless, but... it seems too methodical for one of those scatterbrained little things. The next assumption would naturally be a powerful Nobody but... I can't feel one over there, and none of _us _have that power. The only other thing I could say is that this world has completely crappy luck. Either that or... there's some lunatic out there with some pretty magical, glowing stone trying to exact nonspecific revenge on a nonspecific group of people," Larxene explained. "Anyway, what brings you out here to sunny... uh... this place?"

Instead of replying, the water elemental fished around in his pocket and pulled out the note card Axel had left him, handing it to his female companion. Curious, she took it and read it over. It didn't take long before the laughing began.

"Oh dear... ha ha! The little brat finally grew a pair and went after his heart. Took him long enough..." the Nymph chuckled, shaking her head.

"Yeah, well... the Superior's having kittens and puppies and probably elephants over this whole thing," Demyx grumbled.

Larxene rolled her eyes. "You know, Roxas could only be in one of like four million places in this universe, and that's not counting the Twilight worlds." She tossed the note card off the side of the building, watching it drift away on a light breeze, when something caught her eye. She stood up quickly, nearly tripping over Demyx on the way. "Well... that wave is certainly bigger than the others..."

The Nocturne blinked and turned towards the rising mass just off-shore. They were standing on easily a fifteen story building, and yet this wave dwarfed even that. He stood up as well, backing away from the large mass of water even though it was futile. "They get smaller as they come farther up on shore..."

"Right, tell that to the wave."

"I'm trying..."

"Twilight Town?" Larxene offered, quickly opening a portal. She didn't give Demyx time to respond before she shoved him into the portal and jumped in as well. The building was overtaken by the tsunami just as the portal closed.

-

Twilight Town was calm as it usually was, the perpetual sunset giving everything its usual soft, golden glow.

Of course, while an average visitor to the town might think it just a quaint, sleepy little place, the Nobodies that had left the town had a different perspective.

"I take it back..." Larxene grumbled, running a hand through her hair and trying to keep it slicked back. "I didn't hate that other world, I hate this one. I'd rather spend all day soaked in warm rain than be here..."

Demyx just smiled weakly. "It is somewhat disconcerting when it perpetually sounds like there's something crying in the back of your mind."

"It's even more disconcerting when you know what that _something _is. This place is so melancholy..."

"Only to those of us who left. None of the citizens, human or otherwise can hear it. It'll go away eventually."

"I hope so... it gives me the chills..." Larxene shook her head and began heading down the hill towards the sand lot. "Well... if we're going to look for Roxas, we should probably split up. There's quite a bit of ground to cover here."

"I don't think so," Demyx replied, keeping pace with her. "Xemnas never gave us a time limit as to when we had to be back... so what's the point in rushing it? Besides, I'd also like to ask what the probability would be of Roxas being _here _of all places. This is right under the Organization's noses."

"We're smelling impaired without Zexion?" the lightning elemental offered with a shrug, but she was smiling. They walked together for a few more moments in silence before Larxene stopped, nearly causing Demyx to run into her.

"Something the matter?" he asked, blinking.

"We're under a lot of scrutiny," she whispered back.

"We are wearing all black, people tend to be afraid of people dressed like us... and if this is going to be your excuse to do something like shop, please count me out," Demyx shook his head.

"Why's that?"

"You're a girl." The water elemental was rewarded by a sharp blow to his shoulder that caused him to hiss in pain and grab not his shoulder, but his chest.

Larxene raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh come on, I didn't hit you _that _hard."

"No, no... I got shot the other day," Demyx laughed weakly in response.

Both of the Nymph's thin blond eyebrows raised at that. "Shot?"

"Yep! Right through the heart," he proclaimed proudly, lightly tapping the air just above his chest.

Larxene smirked. "Well why aren't you dead yet?"

"I have more important things to do," the water elemental responded. He tried for a shrug, but got more of an awkward one-shouldered tilt.

Rolling her eyes once more the lightning elemental turned to face her companion, and before he could figure out why, she gently nuzzled his chest, the barest contact of her nose and lips over the wounded area through his coat. "I suppose I have to kiss it and make it feel better... you big baby..."

Demyx shivered at the feeling of her hot breath seeping through the leather, taking a moment to clear his voice and respond. "Me? No, you've got it wrong. Have I ever told you the story of Saix and the bumblebee?"

Larxene backed up, eyebrow raised, and Demyx took the opportunity to lightly place his hand in hers. When she didn't protest and in fact returned the gesture, he began walking again. "Well, see, I was out on a mission with him... my first one in fact..."

-

The next few hours were spent with the two of them doing more wandering around and talking to each other than actually searching for their missing comrade. In fact, by the time the sun had dipped low enough to make the sky a rich purplish-blue- the closest Twilight Town ever got to actual night- the two found themselves on top of the place some residents called 'Sunset Hill'.

"Feh, why doesn't this place actually have a night time?" Larxene grumbled.

"It wouldn't be Twilight Town if it did?" Demyx chuckled. He turned his head slightly so his lips could brush her neck. There was no embrace between the two of them, he had his hands crossed behind his back. Instead, he was resting his chin on her shoulder and simply letting that be the only contact between the two.

Another comfortable silence descended between them, but this time it was interrupted by Larxene laughing.

"You know... you're really going to have to remind me to rip Saix when we get back..." she said, tilting her head slightly to expose more neck to him.

"Ah, but then he'll know who it was that told you. See, he made Zexion and I swear never to tell anyone about that... 'or else'," he responded with a short laugh. Larxene slowly turned around, smirking cattily at the musician.

"Well, then I'll just have to remind myself," she didn't give him any opportunity to protest before their lips met. The position was much the same as earlier, with only the one point of contact, even though Demyx's arms practically itched with the need to pull her close to him. No, if he did that, he'd lose the game.

"Hey."

The voice was flat, tinged with anger. The two Nobodies broke the kiss, Demyx only barely turning around and Larxene moving just enough that she could see over his shoulder, face set with a deep scowl. On the other end of the small hilltop stood three... kids.

"There'll be no necking in _my _town," the one standing in the center said.

"_Your _town?" Larxene challenged, quickly losing her short temper. She walked around Demyx "Since when has this town belonged to some shrimpy little kid?"

The kid scoffed, and all three of them laughed. "Since I've lived here, got it?"

Larxene gave them all a very, very flat look. "_Excellent _reason. Isn't it past your curfew little boy?"

"I could ask the same of you," he buffed. "Now stop making trouble or I'll kick you out of my town."

"I _don't have _a curfew... I'm an _adult_," the blond woman ground out. Demyx backed up until he could feel the fence behind him.

"Could've fooled me," the smart-aleck said, adjusting his beanie until it revealed more of the scar across his forehead.

"Yeah, Seifer rules this town, yanno?" the taller, bulkier of the three kids said. He didn't sound too bright.

Larxene's expression fell to flat again. "... of course he does."

"You don't believe me? Then let's go! Game on old lady!" The kid challenged, pulling some weird bat-shaped thing from behind his back.

"FIGHT!" the female of the three kids said.

The Nymph forced a grin, even as her eyebrow twitched. "Old... lad...y... my you're a _charming _boy, I bet the girls fawn _all over _you..."

Demyx backed farther into the fence. This could get very nasty, very quickly.

"And what's with the guy over there? Cowering against the fence? Hiding behind your girlfriend?" Seifer taunted, swinging his bat around.

"Uh, no. I just know she could take all three of you on by herself," Demyx replied calmly, even as he made ready to jump the fence.

"Jeesh! And what the heck's wrong with your voice? Are you sick or something?" the kid asked, scratching the side of his head.

"Wha?" was all Demyx could come up with as a response.

"You sound like you've gotta sinus infection, yanno?" the not-too-bright one of the group explained.

The Nocturne slapped a hand to his face, shaking his head.

The air sparked and electricity jumped from place to place around Larxene.

"Oh, I guess the old bag really does want to fight," Seifer grinned.

The lightning elemental twitched. "Little boy, I hope you realize I don't play games with kid gloves on."

"Good, I don't want you to!" he responded, and charged. The next thing he knew, he was laying flat on his back, watching little dots of light dance around his vision. He sat up, and was immediately assaulted with a sharp pain from his nose. He immediately clutched it and made a small noise of pain.

"I told you kid, I don't play at fighting," Larxene said as she stared down at him, arms crossed.

"I'll... get... you..." Seifer growled.

"Good! Get angry! I need to kick something's ass!" the blond woman jeered.

Seifer charged her again, and again he was laid out from a single, quick blow.

"Come on, Fuu! We need to help him, yanno?" the punk's dimwitted friend said, and the two jumped into the foray. Well, they _tried _to jump into the foray, and might have succeeded if Demyx hadn't taken the opportunity to step in their way.

"I'm sorry kids, but three on one is hardly fair... besides... you don't want to get fried. She's a viciously tempered master of lightning magic," the Nocturne explained.

"HELP!"

Demyx turned around, and once again his hand met his face.

Larxene had Seifer by the ankles, and was dangling him over the train tracks.

"Larxene! I think he gets the point!" the water elemental called to her. She ignored him.

"Call me old again! I dare you, little punk!" She snarled viciously, shaking him with every word. "I am going to shove that stupid bat so far up your ass you'll be puking Styrofoam until Christmas!"

"Let me up! Help me! She's freaking crazy!" Seifer called, struggling to try and get free.

Demyx sighed, walking over to the raging Nymph. He gently wrapped his fingers around her bony wrists whispering softly in her ear, "let him go, Larxene. He only says you're old because he's a little kid. You're still young and beautiful to me." She relaxed in his grip slightly. "Let's get him back over the fence and he'll go home..."

"I hate you..." Larxene grumbled back. "I'm trying to be angry here, and you're ruining it." She grunted as they both pulled the kid back over the fence, dropping him unceremoniously on the ground. "Now get out of here..."

Seifer glared at her, but led his friends away from the hill.

Demyx sighed and relaxed, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin back on her shoulder. "Now where were we?"

Larxene 'humphed' and spoke, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "I like how you can just keep your temper so well..."

"One of us has to."

The Savage Nymph was quiet for a long while afterwards.

---

A/N: It's out!

It's long!

It's got Seifer calling Larxene old because the Repliku never got a chance to! (and I like picking on her sometimes!)

Read and Review, loyal viewers!


	12. Chapter 12

They searched. All five that were left searched high and low through every world Xemnas thought Roxas might be hiding in.

After Twilight Town, Larxene and Demyx were sent to look through Castle Oblivion again. They found torn paper, broken chains, destroyed pillars... and a massive overgrowth of vines though the former master of them was obviously long since gone.

The rest turned up empty, too, upon their next gathering. Not a sign could be found of the missing Key of Destiny.

They searched, taken to a world covered in ocean save for the small seaport sitting on a small island. Larxene was thoroughly surprised when Demyx stripped completely bare and bade her do the same. He told her that the town was not where they wanted to search. The place they were going was out there, in the ocean, and she better take off her clothes or lose them upon their return. She did as he said, and her confusion was soon swept away.

Roxas was not in this world, just fish and strange, finned people. Larxene made a snarky comment, wondering how it was the merfolk mated.

Demyx was all too happy to show her.

They searched.

And damn it she wasn't supposed to be able to look _up _and see the floor, she left that to Xigbar! She was going to _mutilate _that stupid, grinning cat.

They searched.

Demyx found himself on the lam from a nasty, spotted feline with huge fangs, trying to run through the thick underbrush of a jungle. Something went skidding past on the branches overhead, grabbed a vine, swung, and landed on more branches. The Nocturne took his cue from that and followed suit. The cat was left scratching its head in his wake.

They searched high and low, through the back alleyways of Hollow Bastion, though that got them very little. Most people were too afraid of them to speak anything, even some of the shadier characters who offered their knowledge for money seemed to conveniently disappear when the Nobodies were near.

They searched. Castle after castle, the next the same as the last, the princesses within offering little by means of help; they could sense the darkness the Nobodies exuded. Finally, Larxene got pissed off and started cutting them up, one by one, until they gave out facts. Of course, she didn't _mean _to kill the sickly pale one with dark hair. She didn't _mean _to piss off the weird, stubby men that seemed to stalk the anemic princess. And she didn't _mean _to throw Xigbar in the way of that axe.

But Larxene _did _mean to take the frilly tiaras from each of the girls as a symbol of her visit: Payment from them for her doing them the favor of not actually killing them. Even the one she did kill.

They continued searching.

"Did you hear... people have been spotting someone walking around that looks like _him_..."

"He who- no way! You mean M-mmm!"

"SHH! Don't speak the name of dead people!"

Demyx pulled on the drawstrings of his hood, trying to make the hole as small as possible, and hurried out of the bar.

They searched.

Or rather, they took a break in this world. Larxene had found some hot springs in the nearby mountains and they rested their sore shells, working kinks out of muscles and softening calluses. Demyx seemed to remember their mission half way through, but Larxene pinned him down and nearly made him forget his own name the second he opened his mouth.

All searches were becoming more and more fruitless, being taken to worlds farther and farther away from anything even vaguely likely to hold Roxas.

The open plains blazed past under Larxene's feet, her flexible spine spring-boarding powerful hind legs and making the edges of her vision blur. She stopped eventually, breathing heavily, before turning to look behind her. Her pursuers were gone, naturally. A smirk alighted her face then, pulling her lips back just far enough that fangs gleamed white in the savannah sun. She flicked her tail- it was straw yellow with black rings, and padded away quietly, thoroughly enjoying the cheetah body she'd taken on in the strange, animal world.

They searched, though their strength was starting to wane from all of the activity, their minds losing the sharp edge that had kept them alive until this point. They looked high and low though little mistakes here and there would result in various injuries, but Xemnas wouldn't stop laying on them worlds to look through, so they recieved little time to recover between looking.

Finally, it seemed as though the Superior had a temporary break in his insanity, and finally took stock of his subordinates. They were bedraggled, even the mighty Saix was bent over his own lap, elbows on thighs, sagging in his seat. Xigbar looked like he was dead, his sunken, ringed eyes closed, with no sign of movement from his body at all. Demyx and Larxene weren't much better, as he was practically carrying her, she being reduced to one weight-bearing foot from where her ankle had been bitten by a wolf. Neither of them could actually make it to their own seats, both forced to lean against the wall near the door. Axel was probably in the best shape of all of them, most of what he did involved compiling information and searching out promising leads, but he was showing the wear of long, sleepless periods of research. The whole lot also showed another trait of their exhaustion: black coats that had once fit with a tailor's precision now seemed baggy, almost draped over their forms. The strain of all the searching had trimmed pounds from all of them, pounds that none needed to lose, and added an extra- dangerous- frailty to Axel and Larxene: two who were already thin.

"Comrades," Xemnas said, and the word echoed through the huge room like a cannon firing. All eyes were on him, sunken and hollow, empty in a way that even Nobodies' should not be. Except Larxene; she was trying to summon up some anger- the effort showed on her face. "I see... what you have been doing is a great service to our Organization. So many places have been crossed off our list as places where Roxas is or could be. For these last few months, you have toiled so diligently, resting so little in your chases. No more! Today I announce a resting period. A whole week in which for you to rest as much as you need. After, searches will continue, _however_, I will stagger who is searching when and where, allowing you more time between worlds with which to rest and recover. Now, go forth and rest your tired, wounded, sick shells, rebuild your muscle mass, fill back in those gaunt cheeks. You are all dismissed."

Demyx nearly jumped and whooped for joy, but kept that in check; he'd have time for that later when he wasn't so completely exhausted. He left the room immediately, taking Larxene with him, and slowly made his way down the hall and to his room, his being the closest. Both of them barely had the strength to get their coats and gloves off after entering, and Demyx had to help his companion remove the boot from her bitten leg. Sleep reigned after that.

For the next few days, the Castle That Never Was became steeped in silence, the occupants too blatantly exhausted to make trouble for each other. It should have been unnerving. Should have, but everyone was too tired to care anymore, and in fact, began to become very used to it, so it came as no surprise that when the ninth and twelfth members spoke to each other, they had started doing so in hushed tones. Conversation, however, was brief and didn't hold much variety, a few words over food or when they were both awake at the same time.

So it was luck indeed when the realization struck Demyx that he'd never asked if Larxene remembered her original name, and both were awake and merely basking in silence. It took a few seconds for the water elemental to gather the words he was going to ask, his fingers thoughtfully stroking one of the Nymph's long, proclaimed bangs.

"Hey, Larxene?" He questioned finally, his voice soft and almost hoarse sounding in the empty silence.

Her fingers halted their trailing over his 'XII' scar. "Yeah?"

"What's your name?"

An odd question. Larxene rolled over onto her stomach so she could make eye contact, one brow raised. "My original name?"

He nodded.

"Well," she smirked at him, preparing to completely enjoy the look on his face when she told him. She laughed at her own imaginings, because this was just going to be _too good_. "My name is Lucidia."

"Ah-" Demyx began, but stopped, a hundred different shades of confusion roaming across his face, finally converging to form one hell of a bewildered expression. "...ehh?!"

Larxene burst out laughing, she could literally _see _his mind trying to take 'Lucidia' and reform it into 'Larxene'. "Or if you prefer, I am Her Royal Highness, Princess Lucidia anir F'ialgrim."

A hundred more questions flashed in his eyes, only to be replaced again and again. Finally, he seemed to get his gaping mouth to work, just enough to squeak out a question. "You're a princess?!"

"Yes."

"Ah... I... uh..." no words would come out again, so rather than embarrass himself more, Demyx snapped his jaw shut and just pleaded to her with his eyes to explain, even while his mind kept reeling with the newest information and... _I've been sleeping with royalty?!_

Larxene simply laughed in return. "You were expecting something normal?"

"I... Larxene, please. For the sake of my sanity. Please explain... everything... as much as you can..."

"Well, I was born in this tiny little world beyond the back o' beyond, as you like to call it. The eldest daughter of... uh... four I think. There may be more, I don't know. I ran away when I was fifteen."

"Runaway princess?" Demyx finally found something his brain could comprehend and clung to it desperately, his laugh reflecting the turbulence in his mind.

Larxene shifted back to her original position, head resting comfortably on the Nocturne's shoulder. "Runaway princess. Runaway bride. That year I was supposed to be wed to some... moronic ape of a man nearly three times my age. I had met him once... he was nice enough, but you could smell the greed on him from nigh a mile away. I knew he was just putting on a facade... But he was rich, and as royal families go, you have the eldest son take the throne, send the rest out to join the church, and marry the daughters to the wealthiest nobles you can," She sighed, and looked away. "I liked my family well enough, but I just couldn't take that...chauvinistic dick for a husband, so I left."

"Ah, ok... what about your name?"

"I'm right at that part, actually. I ran as far away as I could, and finally managed to find sanctuary in some tiny little... hamlet in a forest. Naturally, I couldn't just walk in there and tell them who I really was, so I went in under disguise. I cut my hair..." She paused to reach up and tug at a strand of blond that laid along her neck. "I'm _still _not used to it being this short... and took the name of one of the servants of the castle." A shrug. "Arlene."

_That _clicked in Demyx's head, all of the letters fit.

"And that's what I was known as for the... rest of my life. And the rest? Is really disturbing, graphic, and you probably don't want to hear about it."

"Couldn't be any worse than mine... if I could remember all of mine," Demyx laughed, shrugging.

"Oh, yes it could, but let me ask... did your number plague you before you lost your heart?"

A raised eyebrow was the water elemental's response.

"Like, just before you died, did you find the number nine all over the place...? Nine o'clock, nine... anything?"

He thought about that for a moment. "I... don't know... but... yes. Wait, yes it did. It was nine o'clock at night just before I left the party." A sheepish smile. "Go pick up more alcohol. Uh, the address to the place was 99, I remember that. Don't remember the street, though. I guess... I guess nine was following me around."

"Strange coincidence, you think?" She sat up, propping herself on one arm.

"It was the same for you then... midnight when you lost your heart? Or midafternoon?" He asked, looking up to meet her.

"No, midnight is when they finally found me... but you probably don't want to know the re-"

"Tell me."

"Are you sure about that?"

Demyx nodded firmly.

"Four years. It took them four years to finally track me down, four years to catch me. It was midnight, and I was sleeping, naturally, when the door crashed in. On the other side was the Duke... the man whose marriage I'd fled from. It was... it was raining that night. Badly. Some vicious sort of thunderstorm. They dragged me out of the house and into the nearby woods, tied me to the roots of some old, bedraggled tree. And then... well..." she adjusted her position so she was sitting, one knee drawn up to rest her chin on, her face a careful blank as she nodded at Demyx. The man paled, and gulped in response, understanding. "There were twelve men there that night, the Duke and eleven of his... assistants or something. And all twelve of them were allowed to have their turn."

Now, the Nocturne found himself physically ill. He fought hard not to break eye contact and retch over the side of his bed. The irony of the number of men wasn't lost on him at all- not only was Larxene number twelve, there were twelve males in the Organization.

"That's just the beginning. It gets worse. Are you still up for listening?" She asked, her face still perfectly blank and impassive.

Demyx wrangled the nausea down enough to swallow hard again, and nod. His voice was shaky when he spoke. "That's what I'm here for."

"The entire time I was staring up into the sky, trying not to choke and drown on the pouring rain, I was wishing with all my heart and soul that some random bolt of lightning would be kind enough to find its way down and strike me. After all of them were satisfied... well. You've seen my scar, right?" She traced a finger over her lower belly. The water elemental nodded affirmative; he'd seen the scar many times before, though it was white against her pale skin so one would really have to be looking to see it. "He told me as he pulled out this big hunting knife, if I was not going to marry him and bear his children, he would make sure I could have no other man's."

Another slow stomach flip racked Demyx's body with a wave of nausea. Once again he came so close to losing it.

"I finally got my wish, just after he'd splayed my stomach open. Lightning hit, but not me, nor any of the men. It struck the tree I was tied to, splitting it in two and setting it on fire. I don't remember much after that, but what I do remember was being free, and watching as I gutted the Duke with his own knife the way he had gotten me, only more violent... much, much more violent. The other eleven I ran after, one hand wielding the knife, the other trying to keep my stomach together. They grouped together and tried to come after me, but I... I was so angry. So hurt... I couldn't feel the pain anymore... just this strange satisfaction that came with watching the knife I held spill their blood. Finally, they managed to overtake me, but just as they did, fate decided to intervene again. The shadows of the forest came to life, and began slaughtering the men... I had called the Heartless to me, though I didn't know that until later. And when they were done killing the men and eating their hearts, they came after me," she finished with a sigh, sliding her eyes shut, the perfectly blank Nobody face remaining strong on her features. "The past sucks..."

"For all of us," Demyx whispered in response. He held his arms out then- a childish invitation for a hug- but the Nymph took it, curling back up against him much the way she had been, and another long silence descended between them. For some reason, he wished he was still able to cry, for then he would do it for both of them... because something told him Larxene wouldn't even if she could.

-

A/N: ANGST.

Yep, that's pretty much it: and I answered the request for telling Larxene's real name. Bet you weren't expecting that one. Any other requests?

Review please.

Btw: Guess what chapter number this is. Yep. It's twelve. Ecks dee.


	13. Chapter 13

A year to the date since Roxas had left the Organization. One whole year, and still no sign of him whatsoever. It had since started to become quite unbearable just being _in _the World That Never Was. There were rumors and doubts floating around, especially about Xemnas and Axel- two who seemed to be falling farther and farther into some sort of pit of desperation to get the missing number back into their ranks.

It was a year to the date that a pulse echoed through the worlds, a wave, the first breath or heartbeat of a waking dead it seemed.

It hit Axel first, standing atop a building in Twilight Town, a look somewhere between excitement and anxiety alighted upon his features at his finally finding Roxas. The look quickly faded as he suddenly felt hot, his body temperature rising until it became a searing pain through his entire being. But as quickly as it had come, it faded, leaving him sweating and breathless, leaning dangerously over the side of the building. He righted himself, placing a hand over where his heart had once been, observing the distortion of the air from the heat just above his flesh. The whole empty space ached, even more so than normal, throbbing in pain as though it had a pulse still. A confused look this time, and Axel turned, opening a portal back to the World That Never Was. He needed answers.

The next victim would be Larxene, standing ankle-deep in snow on the side of a tall mountain, enjoying the biting, frigid air of the surrounding clime. Some long, serpentine creature was threading its way through the clouds, dancing gracefully from place to place, leaving a light fall of snow in its wake. It was in the midst of watching the creature's graceful movements the pulse caught her, striking her like lightning; fast, vicious, completely out of the blue. Her vision flooded white, and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground, body convulsing with an overflow of electrical impulses, ears ringing. The air around her sparked, small currents jumping to and fro around the gaps between body parts. Finally, the seizing stopped, and she slowly clawed her way to her knees, snarling angrily as the disorientation left. Something had made her electrocute herself. That something was going to pay dearly. Another round of spasms took her, and she fought hard to keep the contents of her stomach in place. When those stopped, she quickly summoned a portal, got to her feet, and stumbled through, her balance completely off and her chest screaming in pain.

Xigbar was next, deep in the twisting caves of the Underworld, using the small, glowing spheres that flew around the area as target practice in competition against some of his Sniper Nobodies. Naturally, he was winning, but only by a narrow margin. He took a deep breath to steady his aim, and the pulse hit, sucking the air from his lungs and pulling his body in every direction at once. His ears popped from the sudden lack of air pressure, a painful thud that sent an even more searing pain through him than the tearing sensation being felt by the rest of his body. But, like Axel before him, just as soon as it had hit him, it was gone, leaving him gasping and shivering, and wondering when it was he'd managed to float upside down. Hundreds of silent questions concerning his health assaulted his mind from the lesser Nobodies, but he shooed them all away, opening a portal beneath him.

Luxord was soon to follow, combating a handful of Heartless in an unbearably hot desert world, trying to stay as much in the shade as he possibly could to not over-exert himself. He had no idea where the nearest water source was and wearing a thick, heavy, black leather coat does nothing for ventilation. The wave hit him, and everything froze. A Heartless floated in mid-air in the very corner of his peripheral vision, though try as he might, he couldn't make his eye move to the side. It seemed as though only his brain was still working. Time had completely stopped, and no matter how hard he tried to command it to start up again, nothing would go. Finally after an eternity and no time at all, the world seemed to slowly catch back up. The Heartless slowly floated towards him, gaining speed, its claw raised for a vicious attack, but Luxord was faster, slicing it in half with the card already in his hand. It didn't take long for the group of Heartless to go down, and even less for Luxord to retreat through a portal.

Demyx was the last one out to be hit, strolling merrily through the blackened, macabre landscape around him, humming a little tune to himself from behind his drawn hood. Everywhere he looked, nightmarish little creatures would run around, dancing, playing tag with the guillotine off to the side. He approached the fountain in the center of the town, the grotesque monster on it vomiting up foul-smelling, green water. The whole place seemed to take itself too seriously, and at the same time, not seriously enough. Demyx planted himself on the edge of the fountain and contented himself to watching the strange beasts play about, seemingly without any fear of attack from the Heartless. One of the small creatures approached him, asking if he'd like to play with them. He took a breath to reply, but the pulse hit him at the same time. His vision swam, and his chest burned with the pain of inhaling something other than air. He was on his knees in but a second, violently coughing up salty water. It continued for many seconds after that, until there was no water left and instead he was just left in a fit of wet, rattling coughs so hard it made him sick. A crowd had since gathered, and were pointing and talking about him. He stumbled to his feet, opened a portal (the spectacle making the crowd cheer), and clumsily entered it, still coughing and choking.

He emerged in the hallway outside the rooms to the members' rooms, and as he looked around, every one else had as well, save Saix and Xemnas. Axel and Luxord looked well enough, though Axel's skin was an unhealthy shade of red, Xigbar was leaning against the wall, gasping for air and clutching the sides of his head as though there was something wrong with his ears, and Larxene sat huddled against the opposite wall, a hand over her face and extremely tense. So perhaps he wasn't the only one who'd been hit by the... whatever it was.

Another fit of coughing overtook him, once again leaving him on his knees with his face buried in his arms against the ground. He remained like that for a few moments afterwards, willing the pain and nausea to go away, hands clenched and toes curled in his boots against it. Something warm alighted on his back- a hand, he knew- and he immediately sought out the owner of it, lunging at them and wrapping his arms around them, not really caring who it was. Like a wounded child he clung to the black coat, eyes squeezed shut, trying to use them as a way to make the racking pain in his chest go away. He nearly sighed in relief as the person he was holding on to returned the embrace. He'd gambled right that it was Larxene.

"What happened to you? You sound sick..." she whispered down at him. He shook his head.

"Got... a lung full of water..." he rasped back, his voice abused from the violent spasms of his diaphragm.

"Well then," Luxord stated from somewhere that seemed far removed, his voice dull. It was only then Demyx noticed his ears felt like they had water in them. "It would seem we've all become victims of our own element."

"Not so loud, Luxord. Please..." Xigbar's voice, unnaturally soft, sounded in the area. Demyx turned to look at him.

"We think the vacuum of 'space' tore his eardrums, or at least badly damaged them," Larxene explained quietly. "I was here when he first came in... he was bleeding out of his ears. He can hear sounds, painfully sensitive to them, in fact, but he can't actually make out words."

That was news. Nobodies didn't _really _bleed, any blood coming from them was merely leftover from what they didn't lose when their hearts were taken, sitting stagnant in their shells of bodies. Though certain, deeper wounds would bring forth a small trickle of the sanguine liquid, bleeding usually never happened as such deep wounds were usually avoided with them.

Demyx looked up to find Larxene's eyes still closed. He furrowed his brows together, whispering a question in return. "What happened to you?"

She shook her head. "Lightning. Must've come at me from right in front... my eyes hurt. It's not impossible to see, but everything looks... like I've been staring at something really bright for too long."

Another coughing fit overtook the water elemental, and he barely got his hands up to his mouth as it racked his body. As it finally died down, he noted a coppery, metallic taste in the back of his mouth. That wasn't good.

"I think we need to go to the Superior _now_..." Demyx stated, as loudly as he could.

"No one has recovered yet," Axel started to say, but was interrupted by a snarl out of the most mild-mannered one in the room.

The Nocturne slammed his hand, palm-down on the floor, and then dragged it across the smooth surface, leaving a streak of dark red in its wake. The man looked up then, fear darting through his sea-colored eyes, even as a small, dark droplet of the same red substance clung to the corner of his mouth.

"Holy... nothing..." Larxene said quietly, one eye cracked open to observe.

"Yes..." Demyx said, his voice soft and calm again. "So can we please go figure out what happened to us?"

Axel nodded, and approached Xigbar, putting his hand on the taller man's shoulder and pointing towards the exit. Xigbar nodded, carefully, and teleported out. Axel followed him, while Luxord remained behind to ensure Larxene and Demyx could make it out by themselves.

The Superior was already expecting their return, nodding to each of them to find a place to seat themselves in the spacious 'office'. Xigbar, Demyx noted upon arrival, was being escorted out of the room by Axel, no doubt to be filled in later when he could hear again. Saix paced in agitation behind Xemnas' desk, golden eyes glowing in the dim lighting of the room. Whatever had hit them must've gotten to him, as well, as he tried to walk off the lingering effects of berserk.

When all members that could were seated and accounted for, Xemnas stood up, hands behind his back, eyes closed in thought. All waited for him to speak first.

His first words would surprise the Organization the most.

"Sora has awakened. Roxas has regained his heart."

A double take from most greeted his words, though Axel just visibly slumped in his chair. Saix snarled.

"Well, it couldn't be that hard to pinpoint where _his _heart went, it never really got pulled completely into Darkness," Larxene pointed out. "Unlike the rest of ours."

"He is still a traitor to our cause," Xemnas continued. There were so many things wrong with that delusioned statement Larxene wanted to correct, but she knew better and held her tongue. Xemnas really had lost it. "He abandoned us to retrieve his heart, and in the process we have lost the one tool needed for getting _ours_."

Another laugh from the feisty female of the group. "Why don't we just find the Keybearer and make him do Roxas' job for us? Then it wouldn't matter if Roxas is gone, right?"

"Wrong. While we can make the Keybearer our pawn, which is what we plan to do, we must, in the meantime, devise a way to get our Roxas back to us," Xemnas replied, surprisingly lacking the impatience Larxene thought she would hear from him.

She opened her mouth to ask why, but was cut off by Luxord. "What about our... current states? You have seen the damage done to us all, you have probably experienced some of it... what caused it?"

Xemnas sighed. "I could not tell you. It happened at around the same time the lesser Nobodies informed me that Roxas had become whole once more, however, I don't think that was the precise cause. It may have been something our enemies set into motion, or it could be something else entirely..."

Axel grunted, annoyed. "You mean we might be losing our hold on our shells. Whatever magics our hearts left us to let us retain human form are fading?"

An uneasy silence settled over the Nobodies.

"I believe that may be the cause. Whatever happened, all of us slipped in control of our elements, and not consciously. Our time may be running short," Xemnas replied with a nod. The tension in the room suddenly spiked. "Whatever the case, that pulse of energy interrupted our... flow as it were."

"W... what are the chances of it happening again?" Demyx asked, voice unsteady from his place in the back of the room. He was still holding onto Larxene, but his grip seemed to have relaxed.

Xemnas shook his head. "I could not tell you."

Demyx's hand twitched shut, and bunched together the leather of Larxene's coat. "S... so how much time do you think we have left?"

Another shake of Xemnas' head. "Once more, I could not tell you. With the Keybearer awake again, it has pushed things into an overdrive. Kingdom Hearts is far from complete."

They weren't going to get too much information out of him, the Nobodies could tell, though Luxord was now very curious indeed.

"We'll be alright, though... right?" Larxene asked after another uneasy silence.

"You aren't fading yet, you will recover," Xemnas replied curtly.

"Unless that pulse of... whatever happens again," Demyx grumbled, with a sigh.

Xemnas nodded. "I am having the lesser Nobodies look into it. I may ask one of you to accompany them. As of right now, though, in your conditions you all will be worthless in the field. Take the rest of today to recover. We'll see tomorrow how well we may proceed." He dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

Larxene practically dragged Demyx through the portal, ignoring everyone else in the room. When they were both safely back in his room, she let a snarl of frustration. "My god! We go in there for answers, and not only does he completely change the subject, when we finally manage to get him on topic he has absolutely no idea either. I thought he was supposed to know everything about what goes on among the Nobodies..."

Demyx removed his shoes and settled himself on his bed before he answered. "He has been acting strange lately... and what was it with him and Roxas?"

The lightning elemental threw her hands up in the air. "Seriously! Roxas goes and gets his heart back. What does Xemnas say? 'We have to get Roxas back'. Why! That's what I want to know. Isn't the point of Kingdom Hearts and _most _of what we've been doing so far to get our hearts _back_? So Roxas _gets _his heart back, and now Xemnas wants to take his heart from him again and drag him back in here with us? Man, I hope Roxas stays where he is, the lucky bastard. This makes _no_ freaking sense." She paused then, her body jerking suddenly and causing her to desperately cling to the post of the footboard. Demyx smiled gently and beckoned her to join him. As soon as her legs would obey her again, Larxene quickly removed her shoes and practically collapsed on the water elemental.

As soon as both were comfortable, Demyx spoke. "I don't understand either. Originally, the Organization was formed to study the heart... and all of its nuances, powers, etcetera. That was back when it was still only six members. As the ranks started to grow, more experiments could be made, and they started... branching out. Or so I'm told. I think once I joined, Xemnas was really starting to understand what it was like to be without a heart- which was something the rest of us already knew, but he was too busy or something to pay attention to. By the time Luxord joined, we were doing two things, collecting hearts for experimentation, and collecting a surplus of hearts to form Kingdom Hearts. Soon, we were collecting hearts less for experimentation, and more for Kingdom Hearts. And then Roxas came along and... well, you know the rest."

"Yeah," She sighed, bringing a hand up to rest on his chest next to her face. "We were pulling like triple duty finding hearts after Xemnas found out the original Door had been sealed."

"But the experiments on hearts kicked back up again after Naminé showed up. I didn't know that until after Axel told me a few months ago," Demyx sighed.

Larxene nodded. "Yeah, Marluxia made a vague passing comment about it... that they were going to perform live experiments on memory and how that connected to the heart. But he wasn't exactly the scientific kind, so I think Xemnas only sent him out there to be Naminé's guard dog and maybe jot down some notes or something."

"Then I wonder what you would've done out there... it didn't seem all that necessary to have more than one person guarding Naminé," the water elemental pondered.

"Hell, I probably would've spent the entire time bored as all get out, maybe occasionally teleporting in to tease the Keybearer for falling so easily into such an obvious trap, even though he really had no other choice."

Demyx laughed then, reaching up to pull at one of her antenna-bangs and chide her. "Of _course _you would, I wonder why I even asked the question."

She swatted his hand away in response, then slapped him on the shoulder, propping herself up over him. "I'm not _that _predictable, am I?"

The Nocturne tried to think of a way of telling her yes that wouldn't end with him being electrocuted. "Well, it was just a guess based on how much I know about you."

Larxene 'humphed' and glared at him, to which he put his hands up defensively. Though it seemed one would be the limit on his near-death experiences this day as she looked away, and seemed to get ready to lay back on him. Though she paused soon after. "Wait... your breathing sounds terrible, are you sure the added weight isn't going to aggravate the coughing?"

Demyx laughed, trying not to do it too hard and trigger another episode. "How much do you think you weigh? Lay back down, I'll be fine as long as whatever happened doesn't do it again." She obliged, closing sore, tired eyes, listening to his shaky, unstable breathing and trying to ignore the vertigo teasing the edges of her mind.

"What's going to happen to us, Demyx?"

"I don't know, Larxene. But... I don't like where any of this is going. I'm... I'm not sure what the Superior has planned is... _right_."

-

A/N: Boo. xp

Read and Review loyal viewers. And look for the next chapter to come to an ff dot net near you soon!


	14. Chapter 14

It was far too early the next morning that the wake-up call was issued, the task divided between Axel and Saix, and it was the former who had the rather unpleasant task of waking up the lightning and water elementals. He approached quietly, kicking the side of the bed and offering a gruff, short, "get up." He was greeted in return by an incoherent noise of some sort from the male laying in the bed, and a single-fingered salute from the female.

Axel turned to leave, grumbling but a few words to the two before doing so, "Keybearer's headed to Hollow Bastion. We're gonna meet him there. Be ready in five." It was obvious from the thickness of his voice, he'd recently been awoken as well.

Larxene was having none of it, burying her face even further in Demyx's chest. "I... am not going out there."

"We have to..." he mumbled a moment afterwards, as soon as his vocal chords remembered how to work. His voice was still hoarse, a testament to the damage the coughing fits had done. "... What is wrong with Xemnas..."

Reluctantly, the two slowly removed themselves from the bed and each other, before sorting through the haphazardly discarded clothing from the day before, separating shoes, socks, gloves, and coats from the others'. When all was sorted out and they were ready, a quick teleportation to the meeting room was all that was needed.

Happily enough, none of the other members looked to be in any better shape. Axel still looked like he was recovering from a sunburn, shoulders drooping and tired. Xigbar's hair had been hastily pulled into its usual ponytail, so hastily that several strands were free and drifting about his head with every motion. He looked alright, but they could bet he was still having trouble hearing. Luxord just looked disheveled, short blonde hair sticking up in the most random of places, his goatee scraggly and stubble lining his jaw- he hadn't had the chance to shave yet. Saix looked relatively clean and maintained, but dark rings lined his eyes, and his mouth was pulled so deeply into a frown the tendons in his neck showed.

No one was happy to be there, with the possible exception of Xemnas. He was smirking as they finally settled themselves down, and in less than a second, he was pacing about, fingertips steepled against each other. "The Keybearer," he began abruptly, and the fatigued Nobodies all jumped at the sudden sound of his voice. "Is arriving shortly within Hollow Bastion. I feel it is our duty to welcome him back to the realm of waking, and the... reestablishment of his lost memories." A grin. "I'm not saying we need to do anything strenuous, after this, your day is free. But for now... anyone up for an evil laugh?"

A tense silence descended in answer of his question. The grin on his face seemed to fade like a morning mist until he was left disgruntled and, if the way he clenched his hands behind his back was any indication, somewhat embarrassed.

"... What?"

All eyes fell on Demyx, and more than a few eyebrows raised at the sight there. He was staring very, very flatly at the Superior, green eyes empty and cold, his 'inner' Nobody on display for all of the Organization to see. Displayed and agitated. Larxene had the same look to her countenance, though such a sight was not uncommon out of her.

"I thought it would be healthy for the lot of us to go down there _together_, and ruffle the Keyblade Master a little. We haven't done anything as a team since before the incident at Oblivion, and I believe it would be good for morale to gaze upon the sight of our would-be adversary, see what has happened in the year he has been without us," Xemnas explained, voice empty and monotone, almost as if explaining such a thing were boring to him.

Demyx clenched his jaw for a moment, before relaxing. "You wake us up from a warm, healthy sleep to go out and laugh at a fifteen year old kid?"

"I have stated before, you may return to your chambers later. For now, we go. Keep your hoods up."

"Yeah, who's gonna be afraid of a bunch of people who look like half-drowned rats that have been stuck on an electric floor, anyway?" Xigbar muttered. Xemnas turned to look disapprovingly at the Freeshooter.

"You are going to do this whether you want to or not. We all go out at the same time, we all laugh at the same time. We will return shortly after, and you may then resume sleeping if you wish," Xemnas replied sternly. The Organization stiffened in response, as though to stand at attention before a commanding officer. Xemnas nodded approvingly, then reached behind his head and flipped his hood up, the other Nobodies following suit. "To Hollow Bastion, just above the gate and near the entrance to the Bailey. You know of where I speak."

Larxene barely heard the voice of _someone_ as she approached the end of the corridor. She paused, hearing someone mention the Organization, and the Superior's deep voice calling out in response. A pause to look around at the grotesquely warped purple and black scenery around her, barely visible through the darkness.

"You called?"

She really wanted to roll her eyes. Oh well, time to put the game face on and play bad guy.

"You're doing well!"

Xigbar maybe? Voices were terribly distorted when still traveling through a dark corridor. Finally, she could hear the response.

"Who's that?!"

Continuing to make her way slowly to the end of the corridor, she sighed. Stopping the transfer process so quickly always made her feel a bit queasy.

"The Keyblade..." Oh, there was Xemnas again. Time for him to preach something. "A truly marvelous weapon. Were it only in more... capable hands." He laughed then, and slowly it spread through the entire group, forcing Larxene to laugh simply because of how perfectly ridiculous it all was. That and the way Demyx laughed didn't sound at all intimidating; his sinus-clogged voice stuck out like a gangrenous thumb.

"Show yourselves!" the Keybearer demanded, and, taking their cue, the Organization emerged. Larxene was slightly behind and to the left of Xemnas, Demyx she could tell, somewhere behind her.

"Organization XIII!" one of the three standing on the path below yelled, pointing.

"Don't point if you don't want to lose your finger, _mutt_," Larxene snipped angrily. The dog-creature's hand shot back, and he held it as if she'd really taken a swipe.

The Keybearer growled, turning a glare up at them all, and the lightning elemental found her eyebrows inching up. He truly did look just like Roxas.

"Get down here and let's finish this!" the young boy challenged, trying to glare each of them into submission. Larxene bit her lip to stave off a laugh.

"What a _shame_," Xemnas interrupted again. "And here I thought we could be friends."

Another laugh trickled over the group, and most of them disappeared, a sign from the Superior they could leave now. Larxene wasn't about to go anywhere without ribbing the Keyblade master first. She wouldn't be woken up prematurely just for _this_ and no more. Sora glared at her as he realized she was the only one left.

"Besides, the game has just begun, little boy," She stated finally, continuing the earlier conversation. With a laugh, she plopped herself down on the edge of the wall, feet swinging lazily. "What fun would it be if the big fight happened now? You know you couldn't win. Do you even remember any of your magic attacks?"

Sora grimaced, but remained glaring. Another laugh came from the sadist as she leaned back to support herself on her arms. She knew he couldn't see her grinning, but she would bet he could feel it.

"Get down here, and we'll find out!" the young man growled, sweeping his Keyblade in front of him.

"Oh really?" Larxene continued, and pointed down at him between his feet. "Then if you're so tough, tell me why you didn't see _that _coming."

A crackle gained the Keybearer's attention and he looked to where she pointed, only to jump back in surprise at the knife he found embedded in the ground there, static jumping from place to place on it.

"Wha...?" he started, and looked up, but she was gone. Something, a sound maybe, got his attention, but before he could do anything about it, he found himself face-down on the ground, a sharp pain in his palms, knees, and the center of his back. Donald and Goofy both yelped in surprise and leapt to their respective sides, but by the time Sora had stood to look behind him, she was already back where she had started, toying with the edge of another knife.

"Like I said. Challenge us when you actually know what you're doing," she laughed, standing up as though to leave.

"Stop!" Donald yelled, making an attempt at running after her by traveling down the stairs. He stopped short when a portal opened right in front of him, halting him so fast he fell backwards onto the stairs. Larxene paused to watch the proceedings.

"Oopsy-daisy," the figure laughed, and it was definitely Xigbar.

Sora trotted up behind his fallen friend, Keyblade held at the ready through the searing pain in his back. "Move!"

"Now, do you think that's polite, shutting me down like that?"

"I said get outta the way! I have no business with _you_ right now!"

"As if! You can talk all you want, but that won't change a thing," Xigbar stated, sounding very close to the edge of laughing. Perhaps his ears weren't as badly damaged as they'd thought... or maybe he'd stolen away some of their supply of potions to help speed the healing along.

The lightning elemental was definitely going to bet on the latter of those two.

Donald stood up, brandishing his staff. "Then we're gonna _make _you move!"

Larxene laughed where Xigbar did not, though she let him speak. "See, that would work... If I were just any old dude. 'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing 'any old' about me."

"Ha! Tough talk for someone who stood on the sidelines while his Nobody flunkeys did the fighting!" Sora buffed. Larxene rolled her eyes, and Xigbar looked up at her, tilting his head in confusion. She shrugged.

The Freeshooter turned back to the fore and shook his head. "Oh dear. I think you got the wrong impression." He waggled a no-no finger at the Keybearer.

"You gonna cry?" Sora said again, hands on hips as he leaned forward mockingly.

Larxene _really _couldn't help herself this time. She snorted and laughed, slapping a hand to her forehead as she did so. "You are _kidding _me. _This _is our antagonist? _This _is the guy they sent out here as their last hope for defeating the Organization? _Not_ some macho guy in his early twenties who's too cocksure and just looking for a beating, but at least has some gall. _Not_ some crafty manipulator with an army of flunkies at his disposal, and a complete glass jaw. No, their final hope is _this kid _who resorts to taunting his enemies with 'are you going to cry'!" she sobered immediately, crossing her arms over her chest, lightly supporting her elbows with her fingers. She was glaring at him, though she knew he couldn't see. "You know, I should kill you right now and save the human gene pool from your stupidity. Please. For the sake of the human race, _do not _procreate." She turned, exasperated, and left.

Sora snarled and tried to move forward, but the ground shifted under his feet, and he found himself on his rump at the top of the staircase.

"Us? Cry? As if! Why don't I remind you how tough the crowd you're dealing with really is?" the man said, chuckling both in lieu of the Keybearer's statement and Larxene's outburst.

Sora just looked confused. "Remind me?" But a second later, he shrugged it off, glaring at the man again.

"That's _right_, he used to give me that exact same look," Xigbar trailed off, remembering the last time he'd pilfered something from Roxas' secret store of sugar-laden treats.

Sora bristled, but underneath it was an air of confusion and... unsettlement. "I guess you think you can psych me out by saying really random stuff!"

Xigbar tilted his head slightly. "Gee, I just don't know." He raised his arms then, a clear invitation for any of the three friends near him to make good on their earlier threat of making him move. None of them attempted to attack, and the gesture warped itself smoothly into a shrug. "Be a good boy, now!"

He disappeared just as the duck finally descended upon him, a moment too late.

-

Larxene rubbed her nose, just between her eyes, trying to stave off the oncoming migraine. She'd thrown her hood back just after reemerging in the Castle, noting the rest of the Organization had done the same. "I can't believe that kid. You know, I think I want to take back what I said about him keeping his heart. Roxas was never that stupid, something must've gone wrong when they re-merged."

Demyx just laughed softly, bringing a hand up to her shoulder and rubbing it softly, trying to ease the tension away. She relaxed slightly into his touch, but it did nothing to soothe the throbbing behind her eyes.

"You didn't have to stay behind," the Nocturne laughed gently, moving his other hand to her corresponding shoulder.

"Yeah, well. Someone had to make fun of him. Popping in for a 'hello' and just leaving is a waste of all the energy it took me to get out of bed... besides, what kind of bad guys would we be if that was all the evil-doing we were going to perform?" She sighed, letting her head fall forward so he could get the back of her neck as well.

Axel laughed from across the room. "I don't think I would've been able to stop myself from trying to get his heart out of him."

"Well, that is because he's your best friend... but not," Luxord replied. "I would have stayed, but I'm terribly tired. I shall see you all in the morning... or perhaps later tonight if that is how time sways." He bowed slightly and left, leaving only Larxene and Demyx in the room.

The Nymph let a shaky sigh, head still bowed, letting the warm pressure of his hands work over the tense muscles. A second later, another portal swirled open and from it stepped a smug-looking Xigbar. She felt Demyx laugh from behind her.

"So, did you get him good?" Larxene asked after a moment of silence.

Xigbar shrugged. "Not much happened after you left, a little more banter, but nothing exciting."

"By the way..." Demyx said a moment after the Freeshooter had fallen silent. "So nice to see you can hear properly again..."

Xigbar froze.

"You snuck potions, didn't you?"

A laugh from the gunman as he scratched the side of his head. "Aw man, busted. But yeah, just a couple, until my ears cleared out some. Can ya blame me?"

A pair of shaking heads answered him.

"Aha! Well, anyway, I'm out. I definitely need some more sleep. Still haven't recovered from kicking my own ass," Xigbar laughed again, shaking his head. In a moment, he was gone.

The two remaining Nobodies stood in comfortable silence for a short while longer, before Demyx leaned forward and lightly pressed his lips into the back of Larxene's neck. "Shall we adjourn as well?"

She sighed, reluctant to leave the soothing massage of his hands, but knowing she needed to anyway. "God, I'll never get back to sleep now."

The Nocturne laughed, stepping away from her, releasing his grip. "Never stopped anyone from trying, has it? Maybe some nice food and soft music will help."

Larxene rolled her head back, then around in a couple lazy circles, expression remaining static even as several soft pops emitted from her spine. She turned back to Demyx with a tired smile. "That sounds nice..."

-

A/N: Mission accomplished on two things! One being I berated Sora for being such a rock-headed moron. Being 15 is no excuse, thankyouverymuch.

And two, I made the Organization actually malignant and intimidating for KH2. Unfortunately, my opinion of them in the game wasn't that spectacular, I retain the thought train that my sock drawer is more malignant and intimidating than the lot of them combined. They were amazing bad guys in CoM, but it seemed like they used up all of their actual 'bad guys' within that game, and were left with the wishy-washy ones for KH2.

... it's Marluxia and Larxene, I swear. They stole all of the Spite! From the Organization and used it all up in their game.


	15. Chapter 15

Just as promised, the members of the Organization were allowed to have the entire rest of the day off, however by the next morning, Xigbar was in the room, gently shaking Larxene into waking.

"Come on," He muttered. "Superior has a mission for you."

She grumbled, but slowly sat up, only to be nearly tackled back into the bed by Demyx.

"Does she have to go so soon?" the younger man complained, his voice thick, speech almost slurred. "We just got to sleep."

Xigbar laughed. "Sorry man, but Xemnas wants her. You can go back to sleep, Twilight knows I don't need you chewing me out 'cuz you're not a morning person and I just woke you up to steal your blanket warmer." He averted his gaze quickly as Larxene escaped Demyx and fully stood up, wearing very little. "He said be in his office in half an hour, so... yeah. See ya there." He turned away and teleported out.

Larxene sighed and trudged towards the bathroom, leaving Demyx alone to his thoughts. He slung his arm over his face, shielding his eyes from the tiny amount of light leaking into the room from 'Kingdom Hearts' looming outside. He couldn't help it, something was making him feel an overwhelming sense of dread, one of the few things he'd found one didn't need a heart to feel. Everything felt too much like it was careening into a conclusion, and he himself was almost scared of what that conclusion might be.

Sighing softly, he removed himself from his bed, just as he heard the shower in his bathroom switch on. He wouldn't be able to sleep now that his mind was racing, drawing horrible conclusions to whatever fate had in store for Larxene and him. Almost silently, he padded to the bathroom, easing the door open quietly. He knew sneaking in might end with him getting a bottle of shampoo to the face- he'd learned that lesson once before- but he didn't trust himself to be able to speak. As quietly as he entered, he seated himself on the lid of the toilet, content to watch the blurry silhouette through the shower door for as long as possible, until she turned about and noticed him sitting there, bathing in the soothing steam. It was a few moments coming, and he knew she'd seen him long before she spoke, but something stopped her.

Finally, words drifted from the shower, and for a moment Demyx thought maybe it was just the water murmuring he'd heard. "Demyx?"

He blinked as though from a trance as the shower door slid open, raising his eyebrow when no personal hygiene containers came hurtling at him. Larxene's head peeked out from within the misty confines of the tub, blonde hair turned a deep gold, almost brown color by the water, plastered to her skull, but loose at the edges. For a moment he found himself wondering if Lucidia looked anything like that.

As though hearing his first unspoken question, she smirked. "You're the only one who could come strolling in here in your underwear. If you'd been wearing your coat, you might also be wearing half a liter of conditioner as well."

The Nocturne tried to force a laugh, but it wouldn't come, strangling itself to a halt against the lump in his throat. The smile, however, did manage to alight on his features.

Larxene rolled her eyes, then retreated back into the shower, leaving the door open. "Come here, Demyx."

He blinked in surprise, unsure of what she meant. Evidently, his decision took too long, for a moment she reappeared, pushing the door open all the way and leaning an arm on it, her other hand on her hip. "Get in here, water-boy."

Slowly, the water elementalist stood up, shedding the last of his clothing, and quietly stepped into the scalding spray of water. He'd never understood why she liked her showers so hot- and she'd told him he liked his too cold. But he ignored it for the moment as she slid the doors shut and stepped up to him, hands alighting softly on his jaw. He remained with his gaze averted.

"What's the matter, Demyx?"

He opened his mouth several times to answer, but no sound was forthcoming. He paused then, and sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I... don't know. I just can't help but... feeling... like..." His sea green eyes squeezed shut, biting his lip.

The hands on his jaw slid up until they had a hold on both sides of his head, the thumb on her right hand gently stroking the side of his face. Larxene's voice was sedated when she spoke, almost as if she could understand what he was trying to say without hearing it. But she wanted the full answer out of him, he could tell by the way her fingers pressed a little too hard into his scalp. "What is it?"

"I keep feeling like we're crashing into the end."

The hands' pressure released suddenly, and Larxene dropped her arms to her side. It was her turn to avoid his gaze. Finally she sighed, and stretched her arms up above her head. "Demyx, we're Nobodies. It's our fate to wander after our hearts until we either find them or we fade from what little existence we have." She returned to look at him, and finally their gazes met, forcing the lightning elemental's brows up a scant inch. She'd never seen anyone look so... lost.

Another sigh, and she stepped forward, pushing him back under the steaming stream of liquid. Without a word, she reached around him and twisted one of the knobs until the water became significantly cooler, before reaching up and clasping her hands around his neck.

"Don't worry about it so much, Nocturne. Feel the water surrounding you..." she slid her arms around his neck, stepping forward until they pressed against each other, resting her head lightly on his shoulder. "Hear the spark of life... and know everything will be well."

Demyx closed his eyes, the brief wonder of where such a saying had come from flickering across his mind before he finally decided to just _do _what she told him to. It was one of the strangest things he'd ever felt before in either of his lives, and at the same time one of the most calming, his worry washing away with the cascading water.

-

It was only twenty minutes later Larxene arrived in Xemnas' office, her hair still damp and clinging to her skull. He regarded her for a moment, his pen pausing over whatever piece of oh-so-important paperwork he'd been working on, then motioned for her to have a seat. The pen returned to the paper.

The Nymph rolled her eyes and plopped down noisily in the seat, crossing her arms and waiting for the Superior to stop acting like making her wait would lead to her being worried. She'd long since outgrown this childish game of his.

Finally, it seemed as though whatever incredibly pressing document he'd been scrawling all over was finished, and he neatly laid it on a stack of other newspaper before regarding her fully.

"Larxene," he began, and slowly stood from his desk, quietly walking towards the window and looking out of it at Kingdom Hearts. "As much as it... troubles me to say this, the Organization is in... need of some more help."

"Well obviously. We're down to six people now."

Xemnas ignored her, pausing for only a moment before continuing. "We've found a promising specimen in a world not far from Twilight Town, a beastly creature, but one I believe may have a strong enough heart to join our ranks... and maybe enough humanity."

"So, another snatch and run mission?" she asked boredly, fingers lightly stroking the two long bangs that now barely perked above her head, still weighted with water.

Xemnas shook his head. "Not quite. We _believe_ he may have a strong enough heart. I want _you _to go down and test him. Stir within him the kinds of emotions that will make him a powerful Nobody." He turned back to the desk, opening one of the drawers and extracting a half sheet of paper. He offered it to the female across the desk, and she leaned forward to take it without a word. "The paper has the rest of the information you need. You are dismissed."

A grunt of confirmation, and Larxene stood up, heading for the door. Just as she reached it, Xemnas' voice interrupted her.

"One thing, strictly off the record. Tell me... why Demyx?"

Her hand froze in midair for a moment as her mind set into motion. It was a very good question, in fact, and she realized she didn't actually _have _a satisfactory answer for Xemnas. By her reasoning, she should probably still hate him vehemently. His time was spent split between a goofy moron and a pompous asshole, neither of which she found to be appealing character traits. He hardly argued with her, quietly and easily settling himself into the more passive role in the relationship; something that both seemed to go against his own character and _should _have irked her- she liked it when they fought back so much more. Not to mention their very _elements _were completely opposite, there were no two other elements in the world she'd found that were more _evenly_ or violently opposed; there was no other element in the world that could make her own power turn against her. It was then the answer came to her, escaping her lips on the tail end of a soft chuckle at just how simple and obvious it had been all along: "Why not?"

Xemnas said nothing in reply, and she waited a moment to be sure he would say no more before leaving on her assignment.

-

The world was, quite appropriately, dark and dreary, a perpetual gloom settled into every tiny crevasse in the old, stone walls. Frankly, Larxene wondered why the place wasn't some paradise for Heartless, they should be crawling all over the decrepit grounds of the gothic castle.

She stepped forward, through the courtyard, eyes darting from side to side to watch for any signs of danger, but nothing was forthcoming. Everything stayed eerily quiet. A crow cawing grabbed her attention and she paused briefly to look in its direction, finding the bird perched upon one of the twisted and grotesque gargoyle statues ringing the central path. She continued watching it for a moment as it preened its deep black feathers, then as it flew off once its task was accomplished. Movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention this time, and she found herself staring at the statue. Had it just... _moved_?

She cocked an eyebrow and studied it harder. Ah, it probably had moved- the amount of darkness radiating from it indicated it probably wasn't a statue at all.

"I see the trick here..."

A roar shattered the thick silence pervading the world, and Larxene's attention was immediately pulled back to the castle. The lord castellan was home, and if the roar was any indication, in a foul mood.

_Then again_, she thought, pulling the paper from her pocket and letting her eyes graze over the disgusting visage printed there. _If I looked like that, I would be pretty pissed at everything, too._

She waved her hand and a trio of Dusks appeared, forming a semi-circle behind her. She nodded at the castle, instructing them to scout the place out and discover what they could about the inhabitants. Normally, she didn't rely on the lesser Nobodies for anything, she liked to do her own dirty work, but for an instance like this she figured it would be better to send in the Dusks and figure out just how powerful the beastly master was.

While the Dusks were on assignment, Larxene took the opportunity to teleport herself to the roof of the castle, standing easily, if rather precariously on the very topmost spire of the castle. From there she observed her surroundings, noting that the world was not very large, the sharp curve of it could be seen easily, and probably not from half as high up as she was. Furthermore, beyond the castle grounds, there was almost literally nothing, just an ominous forest that stretched until it disappeared behind the edge of the planet. A light breeze started, gently rustling the lightning elemental's hair, and bringing with it just the slightest hint of rain. It was a refreshing scent in an otherwise gloomy but stale world.

Larxene felt the edges of her mouth quirk up at the memory attached to the scent, and did nothing to stop it, letting her thoughts drift about while she waited for the Dusks to complete their task. Surprisingly, the first place her mind went was how long it had been since she'd been to an actual castle. She didn't count Oblivion or the Castle That Never Was, the former of which was just a way station to _nothing_, and the latter being more a fortress prison.

Another roar caught her attention again, and she opened her eyes to glance around and decipher whether it was because something had seen her or it was external sources. There was no sound of something large and unpleasant trying to climb on the roof of the castle so she assumed the Dusks had found their target.

Snarl after roar after snarl emanated from the castle, until finally everything quieted entirely.

_Master..._

She looked up after being addressed only to see all three of the Dusks she'd sent earlier swirl into existence around her, floating and stretching in that odd way of theirs. She folded her arms about her front, lightly supporting her elbows with the tips of her fingers.

_The lord of this castle is a strange beast... _one began, dancing and floating, its whiny, raspy voice echoing in Larxene's mind.

_... Very strange indeed, the Savage Nymph would do well to be cautious... _another said, continuing the sentence. Another reason she hated working with most of the lesser Nobodies, they weren't very smart, they asked a lot of questions, they got in the way, and were generally annoying to her.

_... he is not smart: easy prey to sharp minds..._

_... but he is strong, very strong..._

_... beastly strength that is not his own, he is full of rage..._

_... fury..._

_... slow. His weakness is his speed. Strong he is, ferocious..._

_... but stupid and slow._

_... the rest of the castle is of no threat..._

_... beware, the cups have ears._

_... the monster comes from the west. The woman the east. To the middle is the dancing arena..._

_... the creature's heart is strong. Not much work lies ahead for the Master._

_... the woman is the problem..._

_...woman..._

_... yes, the woman..._

_... she is the problem. She tames his frenzy..._

_... the creature's weakness..._

_... weakness, yesss..._

_... The Graceful Assassin would find humor within..._

_... he would, he would..._

Larxene's eyebrow twitched, and she sliced her hand violently through the air. "Ok, just shut up and go away if you don't have anything useful to tell me." The three Dusks disappeared. A sigh from the Nymph accompanied their leaving, they _had _helped her after all, that was a little-

She paused, a completely bewildered expression crossing her face. "When the _hell _did I turn into Demyx?" A hand met her forehead and rubbed it for a scant moment to try and soothe the impeding headache. She _needed _to get onto the mission. Without another word, she flipped her hood up, and teleported back in front of the doors.

Without knocking, she shoved them open, admiring how, even though the castle was old and decrepit looking, the doors moved silently and smoothly on well-oiled hinges. The Dusks made it a point to mention the east and west, and she could see why: It seemed the castle was split into two from where she stood, a staircase splitting off and going to separate doors on either side of the second floor of the entry hall. There were many doors in the hall, one slightly ajar with a soft golden light spilling from it caught her attention but she ignored it and walked towards the staircase, carefully going up it, ears and eyes alert for anything that might be trying to sneak up on her. Nothing was forthcoming even after she hit the landing, so she turned back and tried to figure out which door to take. She knew the castellan would be in the west wing, and his female companion or future prey or virgin sacrifice or whatever the 'woman' was the Dusks referred to her as would be in the east hall.

Before she did that, though, she pushed at the door just atop the landing, wanting to know what the Dusks meant by 'dancing arena'. The room was spacious, she'd give it that, with a hard tiled floor that looked like it probably cost a fortune. An extravagant chandelier hung from the ceiling, all crystals and sparkles and lights, while angels and a host of other creatures gallivanted on the ceiling behind it. The far of the room was covered completely in huge windows, a door placed in the midst to lead to some sort of balcony.

Larxene smirked. The place reminded her of a cross between home and Demyx's room- which might as well have been home for the amount of time she spent there. Her heels softly clicked as she ventured farther into the room, eyes roaming the brightly lit space, mind immediately drawing comparisons between this ball room and the one from her original home. They were almost the same size, this room was smaller in size but taller. The ceiling at her home wasn't painted in a huge, elaborate mural, just a repetitious pattern of gold on white. Fancy, but not special. There was a balcony there too, she remembered, but this ball room lacked the stage for the orchestra and the thrones. Perhaps the owner of this castle was a duke or some other, minor lord that had no need for such commodities, though the lack of a stage for musicians confused her somewhat. She'd never seen a castle without one before.

All of her musings distracted her from the padding footsteps approaching her, and it wasn't until a snarl sounded from somewhere near her left ear she was brought forcefully back to reality, whirling around so quickly her motions became a blur.

"Who are you?" the disgusting creature growled, voice deep and rough.

Larxene crossed her arms. "Nobody."

Lips pulled back on the monster's maw, revealing an impressive set of fangs. "Get out."

The Nymph let a short, high-pitched laugh. "I'm sorry, Mister Castellan, but I can't do that."

"I said get out," he insisted, muscles on the furred forearms bulging beneath the hide.

"Or you'll what?" Larxene challenged, smirking in her coat though she knew he couldn't see it.

The answer came as a feral snarl and the flash of a bulky, clawed hand as it went to rip the lightning elemental's face clear off. Unfortunately for the Beast, she saw it coming long before and easily side-stepped the attack.

"Stop that," she commanded, voice stern. She didn't bother glaring at him, he wouldn't see her anyway.

"Then get out," he snarled, clenching his fists.

Larxene reached out and contacted a half dozen Dusks. She had a plan. A rather devious one if she did say so herself. She instructed the lesser Nobodies to their task and continued taunting the monster in front of her, dodging his clumsy if rather brutal attacks.

Finally, the Dusks returned from their assignment, a loud thud and a cry of pain immediately snagging the Beast's attention, and he turned to look at the source of the sound.

"Belle!" he bellowed, stepping forward as if to fight off the contingent of flexible white things looming over the love of his life.

"Not so fast, you stupid monster," Larxene interjected, folding her arms across her chest again. "You love her, don't you?" She shifted to look around the monster's suddenly still bulk. Too bad, the woman the Dusks had brought with them seemed to have passed out, probably on impact with the ground. Without a word, the Nymph carefully placed herself between the Beast and the woman called Belle. "Now, why don't you be a good monster and settle down and listen?"

Beast grumbled, but relaxed slightly, keeping his arms still at his sides though his fists remained clenched.

"Good boy. Now, if you don't want anything _unfortunate_ to befall this lovely young woman, you'll be a good beast and listen to me. Everything I say."

He clenched his jaw and the muscles corded beneath the tawny hide. Larxene _giggled_, tapping her lower lip gently with her finger. "Do you hate me? Good. Feed that anger, Beast. That rage. Feel how wonderful it is? To just lose all control and destroy everything that's weak and in your way? Embrace it, Beast. Kindness makes you weak. Your strength... is your fury. And you don't want to be _weak_, do you?"

The Beast snarled and shook his head while Larxene let a wide grin split her face. Oh yes, this was going to be easier than she thought.

-

A/N: So much for once a week. I have no idea why this chapter was as hard to get out as it was.

Whatever the case, people in a shower not having sex! It's... unique. D: I think I just broke a law somewhere with that scene. And you know what? I am _not _remorseful.

Read and Review! I miss all of you reviewers out there! Talk to me! I still appreciate and love you all so much. I do respond to reviews, yanno, depending on what kind of questions are asked, if any at all.

And look for the next chapter soon enough.


	16. Chapter 16

A Dusk was the first to alert Larxene to the presence of the Keybearer, appearing in the Beast's room near the door and moving in a more sporadic way than most Dusks were wont to do. She waved it off and stepped towards the beast, hand lightly fingering at what used to be a beautiful canopy over what had probably been a magnificent bed. Of course, the bed chambers she was now in were quite... smaller than what she was used to. A castle this size's lord's chambers should've been much larger and much more grandiose, even if the Beast's temper had caused him to ruin it.

She turned back to the imposing, furry figure standing before the window and growling. She'd managed to get him to a point where she didn't need to remind him of Belle's good health being very dependent upon his actions, and it seemed he had even begun to appreciate the favor she was doing him.

"Beast, you ugly thing," She began, the way she always did. "Such a disgusting waste of flesh. What are you thinking, coddling that insipid rose? Do you still possess _hope _that your _woman _out there will, in any way break this spell you're under?" She laughed then, that cold, haughty laugh that just barely moved the cover from the well of her sadism. "I know her type, Beast. I _am _her type. Conniving. Scheming. Backstabbing. Traitorous."

Larxene circled in front of the Beast, head turned just enough that she could see the way his lips pulled back in a snarl at her words. She stopped, turning around on the opposite side of the monster from where she'd been standing. "It's time you dealt with her. She's plotting against you, and you know it. First, she'll steal your heart, and smash it to pieces against the ground." As if to emphasize her point, the Nymph slammed her foot down. "Then, while you're _helpless_, she'll take your rose. Your castle. Your life. And you will lay there, whimpering at her feet like the wounded animal you are. Unless..." she pointed a single finger up towards the ceiling as though what she was about to say was some ground-breaking information. "You keep your rage held tightly about you. It will protect you... make you strong."

The Beast let a slow, growling sigh. "I've had enough of 'strength'... I am tired. Keeping myself so full of hate leaves me so... empty and tired. All I want is-"

"-Love?" Larxene interrupted, snapping the word out so quickly she couldn't hide the jealousy obviously wound tightly about it. She composed herself, scowling deeply. "To love her and be loved in return?" She laughed. "You have less of a heart than I, animal. Who could possibly love a beast... and how could a beast possibly love?"

The Beast turned around swiftly, roaring at the entrance to the room, and Larxene noticed the Keybearer had arrived, ahead of schedule. She frowned, and looked at the Beast. "And look now, she has hired henchmen."

With a swift movement of her hand, Larxene placed a temporary magical barrier about the room, and teleported just outside the room, to the balcony, peering in through the large glass windows at the slaughter about to take place and seating herself on the railing. Just as she expected, the Beast tossed the Keybearer and his friends about like rag dolls for several minutes, until finally the boy and his friends were on their last legs. The lightning elemental bit her lip and smiled, leaning forward slightly to get a better view of the bloodbath about to take place.

But the Beast stopped, clawed arm raised high in the air, just above the Keyblade master's head.

Larxene felt the excitement she'd been feeling suddenly deflate, and she frowned. "Beast... what are you doing? Kill him..."

The clawed hand raised once more, and the smile slowly began to reappear on the Nymph's face, but it was killed for good when the clawed hand lashed out, only to grab the boy by the front of the shirt and haul him up and to the bed, where he was laid out on a clear spot to rest. The Beast turned to look out of the windows at her, and she could see the triumphant defiance in his eyes, and that brought forth her own animalistic growl of anger.

She slammed her hand into the railing so hard it hummed briefly before, frustrated and enraged, she teleported away, back to The World That Never Was.

Of course, she had to teleport back in when there was no one still in the Castle but Luxord, which was both a blessing and a curse. No one around meant no one to bother her, but since Demyx was gone that she could tell, she'd have nothing to do after she figured out her scheme.

Oh well. She stalked into her room, her ego sore and her temper raised.

-

Demyx, however, found himself in some creepy underground cave system, on the lam from some quite pissed off 'deities'. Which, much to his chagrin, the leader of was a damned good shot with bolts of lightning.

So he was now hiding somewhere in the Underworld, which was actually where he wanted to be as he needed to get something from the person that apparently ran the place. He didn't know why Xemnas wanted something as inane as a tiny figurine, but something told him that wasn't what Xemnas was after at all. He'd heard something from Xigbar about the Keybearer heading towards this particular world. And, of course, another part of his mission conveniently had to be about if the Keybearer were to show up to try and coax Roxas out of him.

Which, Demyx knew, was completely ridiculous. But, a command is a command, and it wasn't as if he was powerful enough to take on Xemnas alone. So he'd do what the Superior said. Or attempt to.

Quietly, he snuck his way down the long, winding corridors making steadily for his destination, and trying to ignore the fact this place was completely giving him the creeps. He pulled his hood up as he continued farther, though the place looked empty he didn't want to take the chance that the wrong person spot him. That and... it was quite cold in this place. Cold as death.

His destination loomed before him far too quickly, and he took a moment to gather his wits about him before stepping inside, sneaking his way to the god's chambers. Unfortunately, someone was home.

Swallowing back the sudden lump in his throat, Demyx steeled his nerves and set forward. The god's hair was made of fire... and fire was naturally weak to water... which meant he had some sort of advantage here. With one hand, he lightly touched the stone in his pocket, feeling its renewing surge of energy. He didn't know why such a stone was a necessity, but he figured whatever it did was necessary.

The tall, dark figure before him turned around, casting an only slightly surprised look in his direction. "Well, what do we have here? A pint-sized evil doer? Or perhaps a short, dark, and handsome hero?"

Yes, Demyx knew he wasn't all that tall. But what the strange deity before him was saying irked him slightly, so his response was slightly snipped. "I'm here for the Tempus Statue."

Hades laughed, rolling his eyes and turning back, waving Demyx off with one hand. "I don't want to deal with you, kid. Go away."

The Nocturne squeezed his eyes shut against the angered frustration he could feel nagging at the back of his mind. "Well, then I'll just have to take it..." He pulled his sitar quickly from seemingly nowhere to in front of him, letting it float in the air in front of him so he could use both hands to play. His voice had dropped back into its eerie deeper tone. "Dance, water. _Dance_."

The water hit the fiery deity with a rather impressive splash, and even managed to knock the tall thing forward a couple steps. Not only that, it put the man's fire-hair out.

There was a highly awkward silence that followed the attack, before Hades turned around, more than slightly irritated but very, very unharmed. "That was _cold_." He snarled and almost before Demyx could put up any defense, hurtled a fire blast at the water elemental that would've made Axel jealous. He barely managed to get the sitar up before the blast hit him, and then only barely managed to maintain footing against the intense pressure.

When all was said and done, Demyx was left sore and panting, with the sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach that he was far outmatched. Hades took a moment to glare down at him, and Demyx took that one opportunity to do the only thing he could in this situation- run. The sitar disappeared as the water elemental took flight, going as fast as he could before Hades could catch up to him. Though, it wasn't Hades that soon became his top pursuer, but the three-headed guard dog that Xigbar had briefly mentioned something about the last time they'd talked.

So he fled, until he was through the giant doors that led back to the strange 'main' area of the Underworld where he'd started. He paused to look around, trying to calm his breathing again. There was another gate before him, one that was far back behind a short wall of fire. That would be a good place to wait out the gods' wrath, he figured, and so he stepped forward, bringing his weapon back to the fore.

"Hey! Who are you?"

Demyx froze, literally locked up, his earlier fright coming back to haunt him in a pale echo of its previous fury, and it took him a minute of berating himself for being so jumpy before he turned around to see a pint-size goat-thing glaring up at him.

"I asked ya a question," it said, crossing its arms and screwing its face up as it tried to look tough, angry, and inquisitive all at once.

Demyx didn't say a word, he just blind-sided the goat in the head with the back of his sitar, and quickly turned back. If that goat was here, others would be soon to follow. He quickly put the flames out with a short burst of water and jogged through, wanting to get as far away from this place as possible.

This time, he wandered more slowly and carefully, ignoring the Heartless along the way as they ignored him. It wasn't as if he had anything they wanted. As he walked, he let his mind wander, and wasn't surprised when it all came back down to him wanting to get the hell out of this frigid hell hole and back home. He was just standing in front of a large door trying to figure out how to open it- and also about what Larxene might be doing at the moment- that he almost didn't hear the footsteps approaching until the owner of them was right behind him.

"...Eh?" he turned around slowly, eyebrow raised though he knew the boy standing across from him couldn't see. "Wait a sec..." He blinked. Wow, the resemblance between the Keybearer and the Key of Destiny was highly uncanny. He hadn't noticed it before in Castle Oblivion, but now he did quite well. "...Roxas?"

They Keyblade master gave him the strangest look. "Excuse me?"

Demyx laughed. He had to. The kid's voice just _cracked _as he said it, forcing it a whole octave and a half higher. Sora glowered at him.

"Wow. I was... _not_ expecting you to be so..." Demyx continued, waving his hand as he tried to think of the word.

"So... what?" Sora questioned hesitantly.

"Short."

Sora's glare returned in full force, as he drew his Keyblade. "What?!"

"Naw, not short. You're just so... small," Demyx laughed and waved his hand again, but stopped to rest his hands on his hips. "Whatever the case, Roxas! If you can hear me! What the hell, dude!"

Sora blinked in confusion, but readied the Keyblade, settling himself into his usual fighting stance.

Demyx sighed and pulled out the note card, flipping his hood back as he did so to see the card better. One thing he hated about having the hoods up on the coats was that it made it hard to see. "What the heck did this say... something, something... aggression to liberate his true disposition. Great. I'm _just _the person they need for this." He didn't try to hide the sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Oh well. Aggression it is." With a single motion the sitar was out and in playing position, and Sora was at the ready. Demyx smirked. "Dance, water! Dance!"

Of course, the fight was anything but epic, Demyx simply throwing up a simple challenge for the Keyblade Master to overcome, and unfortunately managing to get himself hit more than a couple times in the process, one particularly vicious strike sending a screaming pain through his shoulder. When all was said and done, the Nocturne was left cradling his abused shoulder, and trying not to let the pain show through to his face. "Damn... Roxas! Come back!" he dropped his voice to murmur. "We need your help more than ever, now..." And with that, he teleported out.

Sora was left quite confused by the eccentric man, but shrugged and continued.

Demyx, on the other hand, found himself once again leaning heavily against a wall, pressing the side of his head against the cold, smooth surface, clutching at his shoulder. He was almost not taken by surprise by something warm closing over his raised hand. Almost. As it was, he tensed, which was a mistake, the injured muscles in his shoulder throbbing angrily and nearly forcing his knees out from under him.

"Woah, calm down Demyx."

The voice was Larxene's, and he nearly collapsed backwards into her out of relief. Instead, he turned around quickly and smiled. "When did you get back?"

"After that stupid runt and his friends decided to crash my party at the Beast's castle," Larxene waved her hand dismissively. "Most of my hard work to getting that monster into a powerful Nobody was erased in like... three minutes by that kid."

He laughed at that, before noting that Luxord was standing just behind Larxene. He nodded and smiled at the older man in greeting. "Hello, Luxord."

"Good day to you, Demyx. If, indeed, this world possesses such a thing as 'day'," the Gambler replied with his own nod.

Demyx attempted something of a one-armed shrug. "Hey, is _doctor _Axel around?"

Both Luxord and Larxene went silent at that, almost as if waiting for the other person to say something first.

Finally, Larxene got frustrated and spoke, cradling her forehead with a hand as she did so. "No. Axel left."

The Nocturne raised an eyebrow. "As in he left the Organization or he's out on assignment?"

"Well, he hasn't entirely 'left' the Organization perse," Luxord explained slowly. "But he's become very unpredictable and has been disappearing for long periods of time without warning or not completing his missions right. The Superior sent Saix to watch after him."

"Ouch, babysat by the Berserker," Demyx winced.

"Well... Xemnas doesn't want to lose Axel. He knows too much," Luxord continued. "His nose is too far into matters for him to be expendable or to just be written off as 'traitor'. As of right now, he's supposed to be looking into kidnapping Sora's little girlfriend and bringing her back here to provoke the Keybearer into killing more Heartless."

Demyx frowned, his mental processing clear on his face. "But won't irking Sora just make him try to kill _us_? What if he finds his way _here_?"

Luxord fell silent for a moment, contemplating. "I don't know."

Larxene rolled her eyes. "As long as we've got the girl, I don't think he'll do anything to try and hurt us. We've got him under our thumb for as long as we've got her here. All it will take are some non-empty threats and he'll dance to any tune we play." She emphasized her final point with the wiggling of her fingers as if she were playing a piano.

Demyx sighed. "Assuming Axel doesn't decide to take a detour to find Roxas again." The Gambler raised an eyebrow in inquiry, but Demyx gave him a deadpan stare until Luxord's look returned to normal. "You_ know _that's what Axel is doing."

"But retrieving Roxas is your job," Luxord stated simply, feigning ignorance.

"Retrieving Roxas is all of our jobs. None of these 'missions' are actually missions at all," The Nocturne turned his back on the Gambler and began to walk away. The Nymph followed him, deep in thought.

"These missions are suicide, you know this, right?" Luxord called after a moment.

Demyx sighed, his shoulders sagging. "I wish they weren't."

"The Superior wants his Key back," Larxene said without missing a beat on the tail end of the water element's statement. "Even if that means sacrificing every last one of the rest of us to do it... I wish I could care enough about it to feel angry instead of just... defeated." She threw a look back at Luxord, who nodded.

"The Superior is no longer... stable. Watch yourselves," He warned, before a dark portal swirled open around him and swallowed him.

It was then Demyx started laughing, shaking his head as he did so. "What's happened to us... and what is it with guys owning castles and going a little crazy?"

Larxene shook her head. "I have _no _idea. I miss the old days. When the Organization was... the Organization. Not, a collection of a whole bunch of different people with completely different agendas than the person next to them, or at least none that were too extreme." She sighed, and looked at the ceiling for a moment, before looking back at Demyx and smirking. "We're the only ones in the castle. Let's go raid the potions storage and get that shoulder of yours some help."

He sighed in relief. "For a moment, I was thinking you were going to suggest something completely debaucherous for the two of us being alone in here."

The Nymph laughed at that, pressing the tip of her finger against her lips. "Perhaps after your shoulder is healed." Demyx could already see the ideas forming.

-

A/N: Ok, so like fifteen different things conspired to make this chapter Really Freaking Late. Not the least of which was the release of FM+. I'm sorry, guys. DX I'll be better next time.

Read and Review, even if it is to tell me how much I suck for this being late. I'm ready for it.


	17. Chapter 17

The Castle That Never Was was not a place one might expect to find something as fun and recreational as a swimming pool within. However, when the place was created, Lexaeus had demanded a full working gym in his room including a pool. They built the place so one would have to enter number V's door to access it, however his actual room lay hidden behind a door at the left end of a hallway, the gym to the right. He'd proclaimed that anyone who wanted to use the facility could, so long as they didn't bother him while they were doing so.

It was a simple affair, and it had worked well enough that even after his death his room remained unlocked for those left to use the working gym facility.

And it was within the pool area of the gym that most of the remaining members of Organization XIII could be found at this particular moment in time. Most might find it strange that they, what few were left and with only Twilight-knew how much time left would be wasting some hanging around in a pool.

It had actually started when Demyx, somewhat frustrated at his erratic missions throwing off his four-times-a-week swimming schedule taking the opportunity to grab his trunks and jump into the pool, dragging Larxene along with him under the excuse of 'what if my shoulder acts up and I start drowning?'.

She didn't buy it, but she was there, nonetheless watching as he completed his twenty-somethingth lap doing breast stroke. Xigbar had arrived about a half hour ago, bored or something equivalent and challenged the water elemental to a race. He'd lost spectacularly, but it'd given him an excuse to hang around for longer. Luxord, curious as to where everyone was had shown up soon after, and even Saix had wandered in sometime between Luxord's arrival and the present.

So it remained that four, and occasionally five of Organization XIII were currently, and rather amiably chatting with each other over everything that wasn't the current state their group or they themselves were in. It brought a strange sense of nostalgia to them all, as they remember the days that would never come again.

As Demyx finished his thirty-first lap, Larxene grabbed him and forced him to participate in the conversation, and for the next few hours the five of them continued to speak. All too soon, though, it was back down to just the two who had been there originally, various others getting up and leaving- notably with reluctance.

The warm, humid room was bathed in silence, only the occasional slurp out of the pool's draining system could be heard as the slight ripples still in the water disturbed the surface. Larxene was laying next to the edge, her head pillowed on her bunched-up coat, arms crossed over her stomach, one bare foot dipped in the water. Demyx was still in the water, his arms crossed on the edge just next to the Nymph's stomach, his head resting on them.

It was then, almost as if some higher force commanded him to do it, he jumped out of the pool, the sounds of water cascading off of him loud as a waterfall in the eerie silence of the room. Larxene didn't open her eyes, letting him take one of her hands with his, lacing their fingers together and moving her arm up to a better place while he settled himself down. To an outsider, their position would probably look quite sexual, especially as he buried his nose in the crook of her neck.

But Larxene knew what he was doing. Something she'd figured out fairly early on in their relationship. When Demyx was anxious or nervous, he tended to seek out close physical contact. How he'd managed before she came along, she wasn't quite sure, and she wasn't quite sure she wanted to know. She waited silently, enjoying the pleasant warmth and weight of him on her, something that, less than a year ago, she never would've thought possible. It had taken time, quite a bit of time actually, but he'd managed to prove himself trustworthy to the wounded, broken part of her subconscious, the part that never thought it could trust a man again.

"You know..." he said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. "I have to admit, I hate my title."

Larxene cocked an eyebrow, though her eyes remained closed. A random topic for speech... he must've been really nervous about something.

"I mean..." he continued, bringing his face from the crook of her neck and off-centered above her. "Melodious Nocturne? Nocturne is a type of music, it has to have some sort of melody to it... such a pointless title..."

The lightning element sighed, cracking one eye open. "You're telling me? Savage Nymph. Savage, seriously? What am I, a cave woman? Do I _look _like I eat meat straight off the spit?"

"Hey," Demyx chided, grinning at her. "I've seen you do that before."

She scowled, squeezing his hand until she knew it hurt. "Random fits of insanity out of Xaldin in regards to dinner do not count, Demyx. I was talking about me literally going out there, killing something, bringing it back to the fire and roasting it myself."

He laughed and shook his head. "Though I don't think we have it the worst."

"No," she sighed, rolling her eyes, both now open. "None of us in the Organization have very... interesting titles. I mean some of them are ok, Luna Diviner, Gambler of Fate. Some of them don't match at all. I mean, come on. Lexaeus was neither silent nor a hero. And since when was Marluxia _graceful_? The man had the worst posture I've ever seen with the way he jut his pelvis out and slouched his shoulders."

"Maybe it was an allusion to the flowers?" Demyx supplied, raising an eyebrow.

Larxene rolled her eyes again. "The flowers just made him seem gay. There _has _to be a better way to represent death. Speaking of gay titles, Axel's?"

The Nocturne laughed then, his forehead resting against her collarbone until he was done. "Flurry of Dancing Flames? What's so bad about that?"

"Dancing? Hello? I swear that must've been a cruel joke on Xemnas' part for the way Axel sways his hips when he fights," Larxene replied distastefully.

"Aww, he's just voluptuous. In a manly way. You can't blame him for flaunting it, can you?" Demyx said, his voice teasing.

"I would rather he didn't, if it's all the same to you," came the snippy retort. "The last thing I need is _that _mental image of Hedgehog Butt."

The Nocturne sighed. "I never understood Xigbar's title. It's too... common. I knew at least two other people before I became a Nobody who used 'Freeshooter' as a title. One of them was some hunting fanatic that landed himself in jail three times from killing animals out of season. The other's name was a joke. He uh... he suffered from a case of premature ejaculation."

Larxene started laughing, hard, curling up enough that her head met his shoulder. "Oh my God. That is the funniest thing I have ever heard!"

She sighed and laid back flat, pulling her foot out of the water and adjusting her position slightly. "What _I_ don't understand is how we all got landed with such unfortunate hair styles."

"I heard Xemnas' is almost exactly the same as it was before, as is Luxord and Xigbar's. Apparently the only thing that changed with them was the color. Axel's didn't change color at all, it just stuck up like he'd been playing with forks and electrical sockets," Demyx explained. He laughed, and removed his hand from hers to tug at one of his bangs. "_This... _I'm not sure what happened here. It got slightly darker, not much change to the color... but the back stuck up strange. I used to style the top of it so it stood up like it does now, but like twice as spiky, while the sides and back just sort of hung down. Something decided I needed a mohawk, apparently."

"I'm not sure which is worse," Larxene countered. "Your mohawk or my antennas."

The water elemental laughed softly, gripping one of the said 'antennas' between his forefinger and thumb and lightly stroking it. "I like them. They're fun to play with."

The Nymph scowled and batted his hand away. "Maybe for you. I think they look strange. And before you ask, yes. My hair didn't change style except for those bangs, but it did change colors."

"So, what was it before? Something outlandish? Abhorsively bright blue?"

Larxene shook her head. "Naw, it was darker... like golden yellow, had a red tint to it. Strawberry blonde if you will."

"Ohhh, nice..." Demyx murmured appreciatively, his voice taking an almost purring roll to it as he leaned forward and nuzzled against the side of her head. A moment passed and his lips traveled from the side of her head to her neck, lightly caressing the skin there.

He was trying to delay saying something. She knew it. Now it was time to figure out what he had been hiding.

"So, Demyx... what's the matter?" she asked, though she tilted her head slightly to expose more of her neck. She closed her eyes and let a slow breath escape from her lips.

"Matter?" he whispered between kisses. "Whatever are you talking about?" His hand grasped hers again, and any doubts Larxene had about him being anxious over something fell away.

"Demyx, you're never like this unless something has you worked up," she sighed, squeezing his hand gently. "Delaying it will just make it harder to say."

His hand twitched, and he sighed slowly. "Xemnas is sending me out after Roxas again. He wants to see if I can get the Keybearer's heart before he does... drastic things with the Heartless gathered at Hollow Bastion."

Larxene felt a chill suddenly along her spine. "That's... no. He's already started that plan, Luxord said so."

"I know. Xemnas also told me that if I fuck it up, I better not come back," his voice was barely audible as he spoke the words, his hand tightening to the point of pain.

The Nymph squeezed her eyes shut. "You can't... there's no way to... he's..."

"Yeah," Demyx met her eyes, calm green to shocking blue, shining with tears that would never fall, that should never have been there in the first place. "... this is going to be my last mission with the Organization."

He wished he hadn't said that. He wished he hadn't told her anything because the look she gave him now was _not _something Larxene should _ever _have. It was so... open. And so very, very vulnerable.

"I'm sorry Larxene," he whispered, closing his eyes against her pained countenance. "... so... sorry..."

She sighed, and the air shook as it left her lungs. "At least you told me. I would've had to kick your ass if you wouldn't have..." It was then she leaned forward, kissing him, trying not to let the chaos in her mind spill through the kiss.

Demyx broke first, pulling back and staring at her closed eyelids. "Larxene... no. Lucidia."

Her eyes shot open, eyebrows pulling up. He'd never called her by her other name before.

"... F... for what little it's worth..." he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "I..." Her eyes widened just the tiniest bit. "I love you, Lucidia."

Demyx winced as he saw the carefully constructed wall she kept around herself fall, and was soon subjected to a kiss on which he could literally taste the desperation. All he could do was try to reciprocate until she let up slightly for air, but even when she did, their lips remained touching.

"I love you too, Ethan... you _idiot_," Larxene replied, and her voice was calm and so very back in character.

-

Demyx sighed, stepping out of the portal. At least he'd picked a decent battlefield. It had at one point probably been a plaza or some place where people could gather. Probably, though he couldn't tell for sure. Maybe it had just been an entry way to the massive gates guarding the castle proper of Hollow Bastion.

But Demyx didn't know, nor did he care. All he could tell was that it would provide ample room to fight someone. Unfortunately, the someone he was going to fight happened to be standing there waiting.

"Jeez, couldn't even give a guy a breather," he mumbled, not looking the Keyblade master or either of his friends in the eyes.

"Hey, weren't you the one we caught messing around in the Underworld?" Sora asked, cocking an eyebrow and tilting his head.

Demyx merely nodded and shrugged.

"How'd a wimp like you get into Organization XIII?"

The Nocturne shook his head. "Wimp? Shows what you know. But I think you'll be happy to know they're kicking me out after this."

Sora seemed taken by surprise. "Kicking you... out?"

"Yes. I either complete my mission of retrieving Roxas, or I can never go back. And I'm never going to get Roxas back," Demyx shrugged in response. "But this isn't the place to talk about my personal life. It's not like you care, all you're here for is to kill a bunch of innocent people. So I guess I'll be the first victim. Get ready, kid."

Sora was confused. "Innocent...?" But he got no other chance to ponder on it, before he had a large, solid blue object flying right for his face.

Though he knew this battle could not end well, Demyx still tried as hard as he could. Everywhere Sora would strike, he would be there with a counterattack, every tiny chance he got, he threw his size and weight around, bullying the smaller boy or his friends into positions where he could attack them better.

But it still wasn't enough.

He realized that as the finishing move to a particularly debilitating combination attack sent him flying across the arena and he only barely managed to right himself before going head first into the rock wall on the side of the arena. He was running out of strength, out of life, and now he was cornered, and the Keybearer was heading right towards him.

He threw the sitar to the side, watching as it dissolved into water upon impact with the ground, leaving a sparkling puddle. He collapsed to his knees and watched it gleam for a second, or an hour, or days, he didn't know which before closing his eyes and returning to the fore, hanging his head down.

He heard the last few steps the Keybearer took, heard the jingle of the Keyblade as it was lifted up into the air, and the howling of wind as the large metallic object sliced through the air.

And then he heard nothing.

-

Larxene was pacing nervously, if nervously could ever be used to describe Larxene, back and forth in Demyx's room. He had to survive this. He just had to. The chances were slim to none, but he had to. He promised he wouldn't go anywhere without her, damn it!

She sighed, knowing it was no good to wait, she'd know soon enough. However, even as the air finished leaving her lungs, she noticed something was off. There was something... missing.

Curiously, she looked towards the windows towards the outside. What she saw there froze her insides solid in one thick sheet of ice.

-

A/N: I tollld you I'd be back and be better at this. Anyway, I'm going to leave you all to your speculations now.

Read and Review, as always. Hell, post your theories, I'd love to see them. I love you all, and I'll see you again in the next couple days.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Well, I'm here right now to tell you... this is it. This is the last chapter. I'm giving you this author's note first, before the story starts proper because, well... I want the ending to have some sort of impact on you, and not ruin it with meaningless blabber.

So, when all is finished, please Read and Review, and tell me what you thought of the story as a whole.

On a side note, there's going to be something of a companion piece to this fiction, most likely to be entitled 'Stuck in Reverse'. I say companion piece because you don't have to connect the two stories if you don't want to. And it just might explain the whole 'Ethan' thing. xp

I'm done talking. I'll leave you to your reading. Now watch as it all goes crashing to the end.

-

_No..._

It had stopped raining.

That was all Larxene could think of as she stood before the window, pale face even more ghastly in the wan light of the moon called Kingdom Hearts, hand lightly resting on the cool glass.

It had never just _stopped _raining, the entire four years she had been a Nobody, been part of the Organization. Usually the rain tapered down before stopping, only to start again days or sometimes even minutes later. But it never just stopped after a moment ago it had been deluging.

And another thing she'd noticed, was that the thunderstorm that loomed over The World That Never Was had never actually _stopped _the entire year and a half she and Demyx had been together. It was as if their bond was the fuel that kept the storm raging.

But now, now the rain had stopped.

_No..._

The lightning that usually struck out violently from the clouds now instead flitted across them, shooting from place to place almost as though searching for the rain it used to dance and play among.

_No..._

The word was like a mantra in her head, throbbing as audibly and physically through her head as the pulse she no longer had.

_No..._

As every bolt of lightning flitted across the clouds, flashing light into the room, the word pulsed stronger in her head, until finally it shattered the icy cavern her insides seemed to have become with a blazing streak of pure agony, finally bursting forward from her lips in a scream that could well be heard the world over.

"NO! NO NO NO! NO! _**NO!**_" She clenched the sides of her head, dropping to her knees. This _wasn't _supposed to be such a shock to her. She knew he wasn't going to come back... she knew he wasn't going to survive that... she...

She _should_ have known.

The sounds of the word escaping her now came punctuated with the sound of her fist impacting the thick glass in front of her, slamming so hard it began to crack.

Something warm touched her shoulder and she whirled around so fast and so hard, fist at the ready, that the owner of the hand was sent almost literally flying backwards on impact, the flash of bright blonde hair against black letting her addled place who it was she'd just sent on a crash course with the ground.

She squeezed her eyes shut as Luxord looked up at her, icy blue eyes plainly showing his confusion, and turned away to put her hands over her face.

Everything hurt. From the searing throbbing in the cavity where her heart used to be, to the dull ache in the tips of her fingers and toes.

"Larxene."

She sighed. It was Xemnas.

Larxene turned her head, letting her hands drop limply to the sides as she regarded the Superior. She noted Saix and Xigbar were also in the room.

"What a pathetic show. Stop acting like you felt anything for him or that you feel anything now," Xemnas' voice was cold and deep, and flat as it usually was.

Larxene sighed, numb but for the aching, and stood. "You're right..." and her voice was just as cold and flat as his. She locked eyes with him, and watched as he wrested down a smirk.

"Though you understand more thoroughly what it means to be a Nobody than the weakling you had taken as a partner, I will issue you the same ultimatum. Retrieve the Beast's Heartless and Nobody, make them as powerful as you can. If you fail, do not return," Xemnas stated, and the Nymph nodded mutely.

The Superior disappeared, Saix following soon after. Xigbar 'tch'ed.

"The hell is _his _problem?" The Freeshooter spat.

"I told you, my friend. Xemnas is no longer.." Luxord began, grunting as he stood up. "Stable. Mentally. I do believe he's gone quite mad. Larxene, I must ask, would you like..." The Gambler trailed off as he turned to look at the Savage Nymph, only to find she had already left. He sighed and shook his head, and a look passed between he and Xigbar.

"Xemnas... is going to regret this," the gunman said, shaking his head and teleporting out.

"Indeed. We're finished... that's all there is to it," Luxord replied to the empty room. Thunder rumbled through the still air.

-

This was not supposed to happen! The Keybearer and his two stupid friends had shown up but five minutes ago and if left alone, they would finish unraveling all of the hard work Larxene had put into making the Beast strong enough to have a Nobody worthy of the Organization. She needed to find a way to stop him. And before she lost her carefully reconstructed wall of concentration keeping the pain in her chest from tearing her apart.

Slowly, she paced back and forth along a section of roof on the castle, her mind working so furiously the air around her sparked and crackled. She couldn't go down there and chase the kid off herself- she had no idea how truly powerful he was. She also didn't want to give away the Organization's big plan before it had come to fruition, and fighting him would end up revealing _something_. It always did.

She needed a distraction, something to draw the Keybearer's attention for long enough to extract the heart from the Beast. Whether or not he was ready, she had to take the chance. It would be enough, it had to be.

But what could she use to distract the kid? That was the dilemma she faced. She could always conjure up one of the higher Nobodies, such as a Twilight Thorn. It was hard not being able to control any Nobodies higher than that.

No, that wouldn't help... even a small army of Nobodies would be taken down by the Keybearer, she knew, and probably quite quickly. That left her only to use one large creature with an abundance of stamina to occupy the Keybearer while she snuck in quietly and made off with the Beast's heart... then again, getting the Beast away from the stupid kid would be a problem in and of itself. She needed something to lure the Beast away from him and...

She paused, a positively _evil _smile spreading slowly across her features, illuminating them one by one. _The rose_. That animal had some sort of deranged attachment to that pathetic, glowing flower. She could use _that _to get him away from Sora long enough to grab his heart and run. She indulged in a soft giggle at her own genius plotting, but was interrupted by music softly leaking out from somewhere in the back of the castle. Scowling, she set her plan into action, haphazardly throwing her hood on and teleporting to the ball room. She knew that idiot monster and his female chew toy were going to have some sort of party tonight, and it must've just started.

Of course, in Larxene's opinion, not inviting _her _was absolutely _rude_. She needed to go crash the little love-fest.

"... and of course our honored guests are welcome, too..."

Larxene fought to keep her face and voice neutral as she stepped out of the portal, when all she wanted to do was grin at her own timing. "And you forgot to invite me? You really are a beastly animal. Where are your manners!"

She looked down from her spot, arms folded loosely across her stomach and watched as Sora ran to the middle of the dance floor and looked around for a moment, before spotting her standing on the second floor.

"The Organization!" he deducted, brilliantly enough.

"Tch, and what do you think _you're _doing here, little pest?" she chided, glaring down at him though she knew he couldn't see her.

"We could ask the same for _you_!" the duck hollered, brandishing its magic staff like it was a _real _weapon.

"Get out!" the Beast growled on the heels of the duck's statement. He took off, galloping in that ungraceful, four-legged way he had of moving towards the balcony. Larxene rolled her eyes.

"Not tonight!" Belle's voice broke clearly through the air.

Larxene actually laughed. "She's right. Not tonight." Without even so much as a movement, a half-dozen Dusks appeared before the Beast, impeding his path. He didn't slow down, just knocked them aside with a sweep of his muscled forearm. Larxene frowned. "Fine, I'll just have to take something _more _precious from you."

The Beast actually _roared_ then, the sound reverberating off the vaulted ceiling of the room until it was even louder and more cacophonous than before. Larxene tried to appear unphased, putting her hand in her hood to stick a finger in her ear and attempt to relieve some of the pressure that had suddenly made it ring. "Good little monster. You roar like the beast you are."

This time a couple dozen Dusks appeared, forming a large circle around the Keybearer and his friends. They began attacking, and Larxene took the opportunity to leave. She had a rose to kidnap after all.

-

Unfortunately, it didn't take the idiot kid and his friends long to figure out the rose was missing, though Larxene did enjoy watching them tear through the castle as though something nasty was chasing them.

And weren't they just disappointed when the rose was missing.

Of course, the idiot child managed to talk the monster out of the rage he was about to induce on himself, and Larxene frowned, that creeping chill returning to her gut. She had failed. She knew she had failed. There was just no way to get the Beast back to his animalistic other side now.

A crack split through her re-constructed wall, and she bit her lip against it, tilting her head back to look at the bleak sky strangled with black clouds. She squeezed the rose's glass case tighter against herself and sighed. "Well... Zexion. Lexaeus. Vexen. Xaldin. Marluxia..." Her voice caught. "... Demyx. I hope there's some room wherever you are."

She teleported quietly onto the balcony of Belle's room, silently placing the rose just outside of the peripheral vision of the other woman, before jumping up on the roof right behind her. Belle was leaning, looking either bored or disappointed, though probably a little bit of both on the banister on the balcony, watching as the Keyblade master and his troop searched the castle grounds for the missing flower.

Finally, it seemed as though Belle noticed the bait and took it, grabbing the glass casing and picking it up, waving her arm to gain the attention of those on the ground. It was then Larxene took the opportunity, jumping down, her coat billowing behind her as she landed. A swift hand to the side of the head, and the princess was unconscious, the Nymph grabbing the rose before it hit the ground and anything broke.

With a surprising lack of effort, Larxene grabbed Belle and, rose in one arm, girl in the other, she took off for the bridge near the edge of the castle's property, employing an old trick of the Nobodies that the Organization members rarely exercised.

It didn't take long for the group of 'heroes' to show up where she was, and when they did, they found Belle laying on the ground, brown eyes wide and full of tears with Larxene's heel digging into her lower back. The Savage Nymph stood looming over her, balancing the rose's case on one hand like a waiter's platter.

"Well, look who finally showed up. Time to play hero again, kid? Save the Damsel In Distress?" Larxene spat, eyes narrowing.

"Get out!" the Beast roared at her, but Larxene just gave him her most withering glare, almost satisfied when he seemed to wilt a bit.

"Of course. Unfortunately, I only have room for one passenger. So, will it be your..." Her expression changed, darkened, lightning dancing violently in her violently blue eyes. She didn't try to hide the jealousy this time. "_Love _interest, or the cause of your _curse_, Beast?"

"Wh... what's the matter...? Did your boyfriend dump you or something?" Belle grunted from beneath Larxene's foot. She was rewarded with a harsh stomp.

"_No_," the Nymph hissed, turning a glare so accusing on Sora that he took a step back, flushing guiltily though he didn't know he'd done anything wrong. "He was _murdered_. His only crime; trying to reclaim his heart."

It was then Sora seemed to regain his composure, frowning angrily. "Now wait! He stole the hero's stone!"

"That is his only crime? Death is hardly a fitting punishment for theft," Larxene scowled.

"Well, all of you Organization members are evil!" Sora argued.

"How so?" the Nymph countered. "What have we ever done to _you_?"

The Keyblade master's face screwed up into a very thoughtful expression. "Uhh..."

"Tell me, kid. What did the hero's stone do that was so important?" Larxene perched her hand on a hip, glaring down her nose at him.

"It unlocked the power of heroes in the Underworld. Hades said it was because heroes were zeroes in the Underworld, and that was the only way they could fight with any power," Sora explained slowly, looking somewhat confused.

"So then, did he use it?"

The young boy thought about that for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah."

The sickening cold plaguing Larxene returned, full force. "So then..." she ground out, trying to keep her voice neutral. "If the Underworld saps power from heroes... why would he... a supposed 'evil doer'... need to use the stone to unlock his power?"

Once more, Sora pondered her question, and Larxene watched with satisfaction as the more he thought about it, the paler his face got.

"That's right, Sora," she started, grinning in a way that was both disturbing and sympathy evoking. "Demyx..." her voice cracked, straining to unfreeze and speak. "Demyx wasn't a _bad guy_."

"... then what he said about killing innocent...! But... I did-" Sora began slowly, but was interrupted by a loud squawk by the duck.

"Sora! The Organization is evil! Yen Sid even said so!"

It was then Larxene noticed Belle trying to escape from under her foot. She stomped down accordingly and glared up. "Well, unfortunately children, it looks like our time is running short. It is up to you, Beast. Choose what I will be taking with me. The girl, or the rose?"

The Beast growled, stepping forward, but Larxene stopped him as she shattered the glass dome over the rose, watching the tiny shards of glass cascade down and land all over Belle. "Tick... tock... tick... tock... Well, my dear Belle. What do you think your monstrous boyfriend will choose? Shall we find out?" She gently grasped the rose and pulled it out. The 'heroes' opposite her all gasped and took a step forward, but she stopped them by holding the flower out.

"Nuh uh uh, chilluns. You have to make a decision. Time is ticking..." Larxene continued after a moment of silence. "Gee Belle, let's see what he's going to pick, hn?" She brought the flower up beneath her nose and took a deep breath. "Mm. The small of false love. Let's see if he really cares about you or a stupid plant more. Ready?" With a motion that could only be called _dainty_, the Nymph grabbed one of the petals of the rose, and plucked it off. "He loves you." She grabbed another and plucked it off. "He loves you not." She smirked over the flower at the Keybearer and his friends, a look that was so very unbalanced to the side of insanity, before she took the next flower petal. "He loves you."

The Beast looked like he was both about to try and rip her face off, die of shock, and several other things Larxene had never seen before as she continued to slowly rip the petals from the rose, one by one. "He loves you not... he loves you..."

Finally, the monster charged, and Larxene teleported away, now on the opposite side of the bridge, Belle still underfoot. "He loves you not."

Beast roared and charged that side, only to have the lightning elemental teleport away every time, showing up somewhere on the other side of the bridge, still slowly plucking away petals and shortening the time he had to win Belle's heart.

"He loves you," Larxene said, plucking another petal, then held the rose up with that same very insane and very sadistic smirk. There was only one left. "What a _pity_, Belle."

Beast screamed and Belle screamed at the same time, and Larxene threw the flower, right off the side of the bridge. "_He loves you **not**!_"

And then she _giggled_, and just like the smile before it there was something very wrong with the sound of it.

The next thing anyone knew, a battle was raging, the very world shaking with the reverberations of thunder booming in the air.

But it wasn't enough.

She couldn't get him to hit her enough to send her back to the darkness, or at least not fast enough for her tastes, but her pride wouldn't let her just stand there and be torn to pieces without a fight.

Finally, what seemed like hours later, her ears rang as the Keyblade connected with her skull and she stumbled back, fully ready for more fighting, though now her vision was skewed and swimming. From the corner of her sight, something dark emerged beneath her feet.

Electric blue eyes narrowed as she looked down at the ground, trying to focus on the darkness opening up to swallow her, a smirk pulling up the corners of her mouth. She'd completely worn her shell out it would seem...

Larxene rolled her head back onto her shoulders, holding her arms out slightly, looking almost as if she were standing in the rain and thoroughly enjoying it. In fact, she could almost hear the hiss of the rain around her, feel the warmth of it. And the scent...

She was surrounded by warmth and the scent of rain and... no. Her eyes shot open. This wasn't...!

-

Luxord sighed, walking silently from the bookshelf in his room to his favored reading chair, a tome in hand, when he stopped dead in his tracks. There was something _wrong_, something missing, and he couldn't place what. He scanned his room warily, looking for anything wrong such as an intruder or something similar.

Nothing.

His eyes narrowed farther and he inspected more carefully, double checking to be safe. He walked to his balcony and out, looking around to decipher if it was an outside threat. There was nothing there, just the deafening sound of...

His icy blue eyes went wide, the book slipping from his suddenly limp hand.

Nothing.

There was _nothing_ out there but the eerie white castle. No rain. No clouds. No lightning. For the first time in a year and a half... the perpetual storm that had laid itself upon The World That Never Was like a blanket was simply _gone_. Try as he might, Luxord could spy no clouds anywhere on the horizon either. It was as though the storm had never been there in the first place.

Little did he know, Xigbar and even Saix had noticed the same thing he had at almost the same time, and all three now stood, staring at the sky, looking on in awe, in wonder. For the first time in a year and a half there was calm. Peace. Stability.

Silence.


End file.
